Denmark to look for 'legal tool' to avert Quran burnings

The Danish government's initiative to limit public gatherings that offend other countries, cultures and religions, including Quran burnings, will help ease the kingdom's growing tensions with several Muslim countries.

According to Reuters, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said.

“I hope that the fact we inform the public both in Denmark and outside of it that we are working on this issue will lead to a de-escalation of the problems we are currently facing,” the agency quoted him as saying.

Rasmussen stressed that the Danish authorities intend to limit such actions not because of outside pressure, but based on the interests of the kingdom. “We shouldn't just sit and wait for things to get out of hand,” he said.

"The burnings are deeply offensive and reckless acts committed by few individuals. These few individuals do not represent the values the Danish society is built on," Rasmussen said separately in a statement.

More Quran burnings took place in Sweden and Denmark on July 31 as the governments of the two Nordic countries said they were examining ways to legally limit such acts in a bid to de-escalate growing tensions with several Muslim countries.

Denmark and Sweden have seen several protests in recent weeks where copies of the Quran have been burned, or otherwise damaged, prompting outrage in Muslim countries, which have demanded the Nordic governments put a stop to the burnings.