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Cartoonist Lars Vilks Killed In Car Crash - Police Are Investigating

Nosmo King

Nosmo King

I'm not a cat
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Lars Vilks, the cartoonist who received death threats after his cartoon of Mohamed was published in a Danish newspaper, and was under police protection, died along with 2 police officers, when their unmarked police car was involved in a crash with a lorry.

"A Swedish cartoonist who sketched the Prophet Muhammad's head on a dog's body has died in a traffic accident, according to local media.

Lars Vilks was reportedly travelling in a civilian police vehicle which collided with a truck near the town of Markaryd in southern Sweden.

Two police officers were also killed and the truck driver was injured.

Vilks, 75, lived under police protection after being subjected to death threats over the cartoon.

The cartoon, published in 2007, offended many Muslims who regard visual representation of the Prophet as blasphemous. It came a year after a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58783998
 
Nosmo King said:
Lars Vilks, the cartoonist who received death threats after his cartoon of Mohamed was published in a Danish newspaper, and was under police protection, died along with 2 police officers, when their unmarked police car was involved in a crash with a lorry.

"A Swedish cartoonist who sketched the Prophet Muhammad's head on a dog's body has died in a traffic accident, according to local media.

Lars Vilks was reportedly travelling in a civilian police vehicle which collided with a truck near the town of Markaryd in southern Sweden.

Two police officers were also killed and the truck driver was injured.

Vilks, 75, lived under police protection after being subjected to death threats over the cartoon.

The cartoon, published in 2007, offended many Muslims who regard visual representation of the Prophet as blasphemous. It came a year after a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58783998
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Some Police protection eh? It's a conspiracy I tell ye.

I'm not usually part of the offended on behalf of brigade, but really, was this character so lacking in perception that he didn't think there would be serious repercussions for him personally, from flogging this cartoon? Freedom for expression ok, but be prepared to take the consequences. No good whining about it afterwards.
 
Swedish cartoonist, satirist and sculptor Lars Vilks, famous for his cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Mohammed, has been killed, along with two policemen travelling in the same car, when it was hit head-on by a truck in the small town of Markaryd.

Vilks, who had already survived a gun attack at a free-speech conference in 2015, had been obliged to live under police protection since 2007, due to countless death threats and Al-Qaeda placing a bounty on his head.

Police spokesperson Carina Persson said "The person we were protecting and two colleagues died in this inconceivable and terribly sad tragedy."

The truck driver survived and is being questioned. No further details at present regarding the cause and/or possible motives behind the incident.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-n...-cartoonist-lars-vilks-dies-car-crash-sweden/
 
I mixed it up with another town. It is yet possible it was accidental.
 
Interesting.
I just posted a reply to Xanatic, and the post disappeared!
 
I'll say it again... they're not saying very much about the truck driver.
 
I deleted my original post, when I realized it was the wrong town I was thinking of.
 
PeteS said:
Some Police protection eh? It's a conspiracy I tell ye.

I'm not usually part of the offended on behalf of brigade, but really, was this character so lacking in perception that he didn't think there would be serious repercussions for him personally, from flogging this cartoon? Freedom for expression ok, but be prepared to take the consequences. No good whining about it afterwards.
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Imagine if that attitude applied to political satirists everywhere?
Would be a rather nasty and totalitarian world if the penalty for satirising famous figures were a death sentence.
 
The motorway which runs past Markaryd is actually just a dual carriageway with a low wire barrier seperating the different directions. The speed limit there varies between 70 and 110 km/h. Apparently, the police car was travelling "at speed" when it appeared to go out of control and veered through the central reservation and into oncoming traffic. It hit the lorry head on and everyone in the car died.
 
Mythopoeika said:
I'll say it again... they're not saying very much about the truck driver.
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I don't know about Sweden, but in the UK the precise details of those involved in accidents are not automatically released to the press, certainly not if they are an innocent party - and even if they were somehow liable, any release on information will likely occur only after at least a preliminary investigation, and I doubt that all the relevant boxes would have been ticked within barely 12 hours of the incident.
 
Ringo said:
The motorway which runs past Markaryd is actually just a dual carriageway with a low wire barrier seperating the different directions. The speed limit there varies between 70 and 110 km/h. Apparently, the police car was travelling "at speed" when it appeared to go out of control and veered through the central reservation and into oncoming traffic. It hit the lorry head on and everyone in the car died.
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markaryd%20olycka%20lars%20vilks%20polisen.jpg


https://nyheter24.se/nyheter/inrike...till-polisens-teori-om-dodsolyckan-i-markaryd

maximus otter
 
Driving headfirst into an oncoming truck at high speed will kill even a Volvo.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Imagine if that attitude applied to political satirists everywhere?
Would be a rather nasty and totalitarian world if the penalty for satirising famous figures were a death sentence.
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Oh I agree, but the resultant backlash from a certain section of the population was entirely predictable. I'd prefer not to have death threats and not flog a cartoon for extra dosh, but maybe that's just me.
 
PeteS said:
Oh I agree, but the resultant backlash from a certain section of the population was entirely predictable. I'd prefer not to have death threats and not flog a cartoon for extra dosh, but maybe that's just me.
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So satirists should just poke fun at safe, soft targets then?
I suppose you believe the Charlie Hebdo team got what they deserved too?
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
So satirists should just poke fun at safe, soft targets then?
I suppose you believe the Charlie Hebdo team got what they deserved too?
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No, but if you poke fun at Mohammed (especially to a wide audience) that's what can and often does happen. Go to a Muslim country (even a moderate one), say something derogatory about Allah and see what can happen to you.
 
Ringo said:
The motorway which runs past Markaryd is actually just a dual carriageway with a low wire barrier seperating the different directions. The speed limit there varies between 70 and 110 km/h. Apparently, the police car was travelling "at speed" when it appeared to go out of control and veered through the central reservation and into oncoming traffic. It hit the lorry head on and everyone in the car died.
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OK, that explains some stuff - thanks. The lorry driver was not at fault.
Not sure why the police car would have been driven like that. Being chased?
 
Floyd1 said:
No, but if you poke fun at Mohammed (especially to a wide audience) that's what can and often does happen.
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So where does the problem lie?
With the satirists/cartoonists or with the reaction to their material?

I recall The Guardian's political cartoonist Martin Rowson stating that neither The Guardian nor any other UK newspaper would dare print the cartoon he wanted to draw following the Charlie Hebdo atrocity.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
So where does the problem lie?
With the satirists/cartoonists or with the reaction to their material?

I recall The Guardian's political cartoonist Martin Rowson stating that neither The Guardian nor any other UK newspaper would dare print the cartoon he wanted to draw following the Charlie Hebdo atrocity.
Click to expand...

I recall that the original Spitting Image series wanted to use a Jesus puppet in the programme. Devout Christians complained, but those brave C4 satirists didn't care about them.

The somebody pointed out that Jesus is a minor prophet in Islam. Suddenly, the puppet wasn't such a good idea because...look over there, a bunny!

:rolleyes:

maximus otter
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
So where does the problem lie?
With the satirists/cartoonists or with the reaction to their material?

I recall The Guardian's political cartoonist Martin Rowson stating that neither The Guardian nor any other UK newspaper would dare print the cartoon he wanted to draw following the Charlie Hebdo atrocity.
Click to expand...
Well you and I may see the reaction as the problem, but when you consider the fact that there are people willing to blow themselves up in the name of their God, it's a risk that will always be there. Some people would even stab/beat you for supporting the wrong football team.
 
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