(dpa) - Cars and trash containers were set on fire overnight in several Danish cities and a blaze was also set at a school in a Copenhagen suburb in arsons that authorities blamed on juveniles from immigrant families.
A government spokesman said early Friday that the primary motive behind the arsons was a perception of police harassment by the youths, but some of the crimes were also thought to be a reaction to the republication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed in leading Danish newspapers Wednesday.
The cartoon, which depicted Mohammed wearing a bomb as a turban, was one of 12 published in newspapers that sparked violent protests in 2006 by Muslims around in the world.
The newspapers said they republished the cartoon in a stand for freedom of expression after a plot to murder the cartoon's creator, Kurt Westergaard, was uncovered this week.
No one was hurt in the fires.