Danish far-Right condemned for poster campaign telling refugees to 'go home to sunny Syria’

Danish anti-immigration activists are being sharply criticised after they put up mock travel adverts in Copenhagen telling Syrian refugees the "good news" that they can  "now return to sunny Syria".

The poster campaign, by the Danish wing of the far-Right Generation Identity group, came after Denmark became the first country in Europe to rule it safe for refugees to return to Syria, despite the human rights violations of the brutal Assad regime.

Michala Bendixen from the rights group Refugees Welcome Denmark called the group's posters "cynical and prejudiced", adding that they exemplified a trend of immigrant-bashing in Denmark she witnessed "every day" on social media.

"[You see] Danes accusing all refugees, particularly Muslims, of being criminals, lazy, extremists, exploiting our welfare state and lying about everything," she said. "Even politicians do this."

The ruling centre-Left Social Democrats have adopted the hard line on immigration and asylum set by their right-wing predecessors in the hope of keeping voters they won back from the populist Danish People's Party in the 2019 general election. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has promised to aim for "zero" asylum seekers.

In 2020, the Danish Immigration Service decided to revoke or withdraw residency permits from 94 Syrians from the Damascus or Rif Damascus regions, which it deemed "safe", although some of these decisions have already been overturned by the Refugee Appeals Board. As of April 9, the Board is considering 148 Syrian cases, with 20 of the immigration service's decisions so far upheld.

Generation Identity, or Generation Identitaer, is the Danish wing of the far-Right Generation Identity group, which was banned in France last month for inciting people to "discrimination, hatred and violence."