A Danish politician has been criticised for saying boats carrying refugees migrants should be "fired at" to prevent them from reaching Europe.

Kenneth Kristensen Berth, a lawmaker for the anti-immigration Danish People's Party (DPP), which is allied to the country's government, was speaking during a debate in Copenhagen.

He was later forced to clarify the comments on Facebook, where he said he did not advocate "shooting at migrants", but had meant "warning shots" could be fired against ships carrying them.

Mr Kristensen Berth, the DPP's EU affairs spokesman, said in the debate on Wednesday: "The only way you can do it efficiently is by simply turning the boats around and saying you cannot sail within this territorial border.

"If you do that you will either be fired at or you will be turned around and sailed back."

He said on Thursday the warning shots should be fired because it was "essential" to protect the European Union's territorial borders.

DPP deputy leader Soeren Espersen said: “It is hard for me to say something else than I agree with him."

Such situations would be "very, very seldom," he added.

An MP for the ruling Venstre party, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, said on Twitter that the remarks were “not okay” and that “warning shots are... a warning of what is to follow.”

“Of course you don't shoot at people who are fleeing. It shouldn't be necessary to say,” Mette Frederiksen, the leader of the opposition Social Democrats, wrote on Facebook.

Denmark introduced a host of measures to deter migrants from coming to the country earlier this year, including a controversial rule allowing police to confiscate their valuables to help pay for their accommodation.

According to the UN, at least 4,700 people have died, are missing or feared to have drowned this year while trying to cross the Mediterranean.