An anti-immigration political party has topped an opinion poll in Norway after Muslims angered by cartoons burnt Norwegian flags and embassies
Reuters:
The Progress party, which wants tighter immigration laws and blames immigrants for much of the nation's crime, has condemned Muslim extremists and urged Norway's Labour-led government to stand up more strongly for freedom of speech.
The survey in the Bergens Tidende newspaper on Tuesday showed support for Progress rising to 31.8 percent, above Labour on 28.7. Progress came second in the last parliamentary election in September, with 22.1 percent to Labour's 32.7 percent.
"There is a long time until the election, therefore we have to take this with a pinch of salt," Progress' Siv Jensen told the newspaper. She will take over as the Progress leader before the next election in 2009.
The poll backs up an earlier survey that put Progress on almost the same level of support as Labour, which heads a three-party coalition.
A Norwegian newspaper was one of the first publications outside Denmark to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that Muslims consider blasphemous.
Progress has said the Norwegian newspaper editor should not apologise for the cartoons and should be able to print what he sees fit in the name of free speech.
The Labour-led government has been more cautious, expressing regret for offence caused by the cartoons while saying Norway defends free speech.
Support for the Progress party has once before eclipsed support for Labour, Norway's dominant party in the 20th century. In September 2000 it registered roughly 30 percent in opinion polls ahead of Labour.
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posted by Adam Lawson @ 10:35 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
"blames immigrants for much of the nation's crime"
It would be nice to see a reporter follow-up on such claims -- i.e. to see if they are true or not, and then also report that. Instead you get the impression such a raw statement is most often included in news stories only to discredit those saying it.
Of course if they did follow-up, the "much of" would have to be carefully defined, which would lead, in most cases I think, to the entirely expected conclusion that what is being claimed (what is meant) is in fact true: that immigrants commit a significantly disproportionate share of crime. This would lead directly to a question about the pluses and minues of their presence, and considering other factors, i.e. cultural incompatibility and (at least for muslims and blacks) comparatively low levels of academic achievement, is exactly what some people want to avoid.
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