Jewish radio station in Copenhagen taking break for security reasons

(JTA) — A Jewish radio station based in Copenhagen canceled its daily broadcast for security reasons following the deadly synagogue shooting in the Danish capital.

The Danish Security and Intelligence Service, whose acronym in Danish is PET, shut down Monday after being told that broadcasting from its basement studio in the Norrebo neighborhood of Copenhagen was too dangerous, Radio Shalom host Abraham Kopenhagen told the Danish-language newspaper DR Nyheder, according to Tuesday’s Copenhagen Post.

Kopenhagen said the station would be back on the air when PET tells them that it is safe.

“We do not feel that it is too dangerous, but we respect the information we are given,” Kopenhagen told DR Nyheder.

Kopenhagen said that PET offered to protect the station while it was broadcasting, but Radio Shalom rejected the offer.

“We must do as instructed, but we will not have police standing outside the door,” he said. “We would rather close down until it is quiet again. I do not know how long that will take.”

The station’s programming includes local, international and Israel news, as well as cultural shows and interviews with prominent local and international figures.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Jewish school in Copenhagen opened under police protection. Carolineskolen has 200 students.

Two policemen and a volunteer civilian guard were shot outside Copenhagen’s central synagogue after midnight Sunday while they provided security for a nearby  building where a bat mitzvah party was taking place. The guard, Dan Uzan, 37, died later from his injuries.

The attack in Krystalgade followed a shooting the previous afternoon at a free speech event at a cultural center featuring the Danish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who is under police protection because of his cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad. One person was killed.