One person has been killed and three police officers injured after armed men opened fire on a cafe in Copenhagen where a debate on Islam and free speech was being held.

The meeting was attended by Lars Vilks, the controversial Swedish artist who has faced death threats for caricaturing the prophet Muhammad. Also in attendance was François Zimeray, the French ambassador to Denmark.

“They fired on us from the outside. It was the same intention as [the 7 January attack on] Charlie Hebdo except they didn’t manage to get in,” Zimeray told AFP.



“Intuitively I would say there were at least 50 gunshots, and the police here are saying 200. Bullets went through the doors and everyone threw themselves to the floor,” the ambassador added.

“We managed to flee the room, and now we’re staying inside because it’s still dangerous. The attackers haven’t been caught and they could very well still be in the neighbourhood.”

He sent this tweet from the cafe moments after the attack.

Still alive in the room — Frankrigs ambassadør (@francedk) February 14, 2015

Neither Vilks nor Zimeray were injured, but at least one person was killed in the attack at about 3pm GMT. The gunmen fled the scene by car.



This handout photo released by Danish police and taken from a surveillance video CCTV shows a man suspected to be involved in a shooting attack in Copenhagen. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Eyewitnesses said that the police officers were injured outside the cafe.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.



The victim was a 40-year-old man who was inside the cafe attending the event. He has not yet been identified.

Danish police, who initially said they were searching for two suspects, issued a picture of the main suspect on Saturday evening, taken on street cameras near to where the getaway car, a VW Polo, was later found dumped.

The Danish security service said in a statement the circumstances surrounding the shooting “indicate that we are talking about a terror attack”.

Niels Ivar Larsen, one of the speakers at the event, told Denmark’s TV2: “I heard someone firing with automatic weapons and someone shouting.



“Police returned the fire and I hid behind the bar. It felt surreal, like in a movie.”

Helle Merete Brix, one of the meeting’s organisers, said: “I saw a masked man running past. I clearly consider this as an attack on Lars Vilks.”

David Cameron, the prime minister, said his thoughts were with the Danish people, tweeting: “I condemn the shootings in #Copenhagen. #Freespeech must always be protected.”

I condemn the shootings in #Copenhagen. #Freespeech must always be protected. My thoughts are with the Danish people. — David Cameron (@David_Cameron) February 14, 2015

Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, condemned what he called a “terrorist attack”.

Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, was travelling to Copenhagen on Saturday night.

François Hollande has expressed his solidarity to Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the Danish prime minister, Cazeneuve said.



Police officers work at the area around the Krudttønden cafe in Copenhagen where shots were fired during a debate on Islam and free speech. Photograph: Claus Bjorn Larsen/AFP/Getty Images

Danish reports said there were about 30 bullet holes in the window of the Krudttønden cafe where the meeting organised by Vilks was being held.

The cafe in northern Copenhagen, known for its jazz concerts, was hosting an event titled “Art, blasphemy and the freedom of expression” when the shots were fired.



The meeting was also being held to mark the anniversary of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie issued by Islamic fundamentalists after he wrote The Satanic Verses.

Vilks, 68, outraged many Muslims in 2007 after he depicted the prophet Muhammad’s head on the body of a dog.

In September that year, Vilks had a $100,000 bounty placed on his head by an al-Qaida faction in Iraq in response to his drawings.



In 2010 Swedish newspapers reprinted the controversial cartoon after two Muslim men were arrested and subsequently charged in the Irish Republic in connection with an alleged plot to murder Vilks.

Lars Vilks has faced numerous threats for caricaturing the prophet Muhammad. Photograph: Bjorn Lindgren/AP

Since then he has received numerous death threats and has lived under constant police protection.

Two years ago, an American woman who called herself Jihad Jane was sentenced to 10 years in prison for plotting to kill him.

The Lars Vilks committee gave its freedom prize to the Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine, in October 2014 – three months before the terrorist attack on its Paris office.

Gerard Biard, the magazine’s editor-in chief, who received the prize in Copenhagen, survived the attack as he was in London on 7 January.

After the Charlie Hebdo attack, Vilks said that even fewer organisations were inviting him to give lectures over increased security concerns.

He also thought that Sweden’s SAPO security service, which deploys bodyguards to protect him, would step up the security around him.



“This will create fear among people on a whole different level than we’re used to,” he said. “Charlie Hebdo was a small oasis. Not many dared do what they did.”