Swedish university refuses Vilks lecture after attack on similar event in Copenhagen

STOCKHOLM – A Swedish university has declined to host a lecture by an artist who caricatured the Prophet Muhammad after a gunman attacked a similar event in Copenhagen.

Karlstad University spokesman Joachim Gustafssson says the event with Lars Vilks was turned down because "we cannot guarantee security."

A local foreign policy association had invited Vilks to talk on March 17 about freedom of expression following the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris.

On Feb. 14, a similar event in Copenhagen that Vilks attended was attacked by a gunman who also opened fire outside a synagogue. Two people died and five were wounded in the attacks.

Organizer Paula Holst called the university's decision "a victory for extremism and terrorism," but said she believed the event would go ahead at another venue in Karlstad.