Yemenis Boycott Danish Products

SANA'A – "I could not even touch a carton of Puck butter that I bought a few days ago," said one young Yemeni on Tuesday morning while shopping in Shumaila Hari Supermarket in Sana’a.

Yemeni people have responded enthusiastically to calls by Yemeni and Muslim scholars to boycott various Danish and Norwegian products.
The call came after anger at the depiction of cartoons in a Danish newspaper portraying the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in an insulting manner. A Norwegian paper has also run the drawings.

The drawings, that seemed to portray the Prophet as a terrorist, were published in September, but the row erupted this month after diplomatic efforts to solve the issue failed.

Denmark's Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which published the cartoons, issued an apology late on Monday in a statement to Arab countries sent to the Jordanian news agency Petra.

"The drawings are not against the Danish law but have indisputably insulted many Muslims, for which we shall apologize," the newspaper said in the statement.

Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen welcomed the paper's apology but did not apologize himself.
"The Danish government cannot apologize on behalf of a Danish newspaper. It does not work like that ... and we have explained that to the Arab countries. Independent media are not edited by the government," Rasmussen said.

However, that has appeared to mean little to shoppers in Sana’a.
Ali Al-Qubati, sales manager of the Shumaila Hari Supermarket gave orders to his workers to remove all Danish products from the shelves, and to leave the place empty.

“We should do something," Al-Qubati, 30, said. "We can not just see and listen to what is going on without any serious action.
“In the beginning, there was a request for apology from the Danish newspaper, but now we don't want that apology. We should show them how we react to their abuses“

We usually store some products if a boycott is announced. This time it is different - we sent them back to the importer and will not resell them again, at least until a solution is made.

“We are displaying new alternatives. Our clients used to buy huge quantities of butter, cheese and milk, but now they ask about the source of the products. They reject Danish and Norwegian products for the same reasons.”

In the shops around Sana’a, many people echo the same opinions.

Musaed Mabkhout and Abdu Abdullah, from a rural area of Marib, said that there are plenty of alternatives that will replace those products. "We don't want Danish," they said.

Mahfouz Hamza was shopping with his family said that his family also rejected Danish products.  Waddah Al-Sofi, manager of the Huda Supermarket, said that a 100% fall in demand of the Danish commodities.

"The majority of our clients are locals and Arabs. They are boycotting such stuff," he said.
"I have no problem with that," Al-Sofi said. "I am boycotting those products myself."

The Danish Foreign Ministry has issued a warning to Danes in the Middle East to "show extra vigilance" due to rising tensions because of the caricatures, and a Danish aid worker has left Yemen due to fears of attacks.

The Danish Red Cross said yesterday it was evacuating an employee from Yemen, as well as two employees from Gaza.
Yesterday the Yemen Scholars Association and Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) joined the condemnation of the publication of cartoons, according to a report by Saba news.

The YJS asked the Danish Journalists 'Syndicate to help solve the issue, which it said was an attack against Islam 'under the pretext of freedom of expression'.

Besides calling all Muslims to boycott Danish products, Saba said the YJS also called on the UN and other international human rights organizations to ban insults against religious beliefs.

Across the Gulf, several supermarkets pulled Scandinavian foods off the shelves after consumers complained.
Sudan said it had told a Danish government minister he could not make a planned visit and said it had also called for a boycott of Danish goods.

Jan 31, 2006