Five representatives from Hizb ut-Tahrir handed out flyers to students outside Mulernes Legatskole in Odense on Friday morning. The school called police, and the situation remained calm.
DR reports that the Islamic association arrived at the Odense gymnasium on the morning of August 14, 2026. Rector Henrik Stokholm called police when he noticed the five people distributing flyers on school property. Officers attended the scene, and the gathering passed peacefully and quietly.
According to DR, it was the second time that week that Hizb ut-Tahrir had approached a Danish gymnasium with its material. Earlier in the week, the group handed out flyers at a school in Copenhagen. The flyers describe Danish youth culture as shameless and boundless, and urge Muslim students to stand firm in their Islamic identity.
The Odense school is currently flying rainbow flags to mark Copenhagen Pride. Stokholm told DR he had informed students of that decision the day before, and he believes the visit was a direct reaction. He noted that the five people were not from Odense and had traveled a long way.
Clara Guldbæk Grønbæk, a second-year student at Mulernes Legatskole, said the message was a harsh thing to have thrown at her. As she told DR, the men themselves were polite and calm, and it was the content of the flyer she objected to.
BT reported that a prominent member of the group, Aqeel Abu Osama, also known as Sebastian Østerfelt, distributed similar flyers outside Nørrebro Gymnasium in Copenhagen earlier in the week and publicized it on TikTok. Per BT, such distributions have taken place a couple of times a year at that school, and the gymnasium stresses that the activists remain on public street space.
Berlingske reported that the letter and video behind the campaign were launched in connection with the August start of the school year. Integration minister Morten Bødskov called the campaign camouflaged Islamic extremism. TV 2 Kosmopol noted that the letter told Muslim students to stand firm in their Islamic identity and wear it with pride, and that Bødskov called it deeply worrying. School leaders have said the campaign conflicts with the values of Danish education.
Calls for a ban
Several politicians have during the same week called for a legal ban on the association, according to DR, with a Social Democratic spokesperson describing it as anti-democratic. Steen Schaumburg-Müller, a law professor at the University of Southern Denmark, said case law has changed in recent years following the ban on the gang Loyal to Familia. As stated by him, it is therefore possible again to examine whether Hizb ut-Tahrir falls into the same category.
The five representatives declined to be interviewed by DR outside the school and referred the broadcaster to their press spokesperson. DR reports that it has reached out to that person several times without receiving a response.
