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Danish Integration Minister Støjberg: I won’t repeat cake photo

The Local Denmark
The Local Denmark - [email protected]
Danish Integration Minister Støjberg: I won’t repeat cake photo
Photo: Ólafur Steinar Gestsson/Scanpix

Denmark’s minister for integration Inger Støjberg has said that she was surprised by the reaction to a picture she posted on Facebook that celebrated immigration curbs with a cake and that she was unlikely to make a similar public post in future.

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Støjberg’s post on Facebook on March 14th read “Today the 50th restriction on migration as passed. This must be celebrated!” along with a photo in which the smiling minister held a large cake with the number 50 on it.

The post provoked a lengthy discussion on social media and was covered by foreign media such as the New York Times and German newspaper Bild, which called Støjberg a "Trumpine".

A number of Støjberg’s critics and humanitarian organisations also posted pictures of cakes with alternative messages to the one in the integration minister’s post - including the Danish Red Cross, which said it had helped 2.45 million people since the start of the conflict in Syria.

But  Støjberg herself said the cake was not an attempt to provoke, adding that she was surprised by the media storm it caused, reports DR.

“It was not my intention to provoke Venstre’s [Støjberg’s Liberal Party, ed.] support base with the cake. I wanted to highlight the fact that our election campaign promised to curb immigration. And we reached a milestone with the 50th curb,” she told broadcaster DR’s radio show Bagklog (Hindsight).

The minister also told DR that she would not be buying a similar cake again, “for several reasons”.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said at a press conference earlier this month that it was “regrettable” if Støjberg’s cake post had caused offence.

At the time of writing, the Facebook post has 34,000 likes and over 10,000 comments.

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