Violence broke out in Denmark with cars and rubbish bins set on fire yesterday after a far-right anti-Islam activist threw a copy of the Koran into the air.

Copenhagen police said 23 people had been arrested last night after officers fired tear gas in clashes with protesters.

Extremist politician Rasmus Paludan - who wants Islam banned from Denmark - had thrown the religion's holy book into the air several times in Noerrebro, an immigrant-heavy district in the Danish capital.

Danish PM Lars Loekke Rasmussen called Paludan's actions a 'meaningless provocation' and urged his countrymen to 'meet him with arguments, not violence'.

Unrest: A Danish police officer stands guard with a burning wreckage behind him, during unrest following the demonstration in Copenhagen yesterday

Clashes: Police wearing helmets and carrying batons attempt to calm the violence which broke out in Denmark on Sunday

Counter-protesters threw cobblestones at him and at the police who moved in first to protect him and then to escort him away.

The unrest spread to other parts of the city, where dustbins and bicycles were set on fire and police responded with tear gas after missiles were thrown at them.

Copenhagen police said they had used tear gas and were yesterday urging people to stay away from the area, or stay indoors if they were already there.

Prime Minister Mr Rasmussen said on Twitter: 'I strongly repudiate Paludan's meaningless provocations which have no purpose other than to sow discord.

'Meet him with arguments - not violence. Protect democracy and freedom of expression. Do not let derogatory actions directed at specific groups in Denmark destroy our unity.'

Wreckage: Bicycles are seen burning and lying on the ground with a police vehicle on the scene amid violence in Copenhagen on Sunday

On guard: Danish police officers in the immigrant-heavy area of Noerrebro in Copenhagen where an anti-Islam activist threw a Koran into the air

Wrestled: Two police officers tackle a person on the ground during Sunday's violence in a migrant neighbourhood in Denmark's capital

Paludan is the founder of a party called Stram Kurs, or Hard Line, which has called explicitly for Islam to be banned from Denmark.

It says Denmark should be a country for people who were 'ethnic Danes at birth' or adopted as infants, and have 'Danish genus and Danish native language'.

Paludan has already received a suspended sentence for racist abuse and his party has no seats in Denmark's Parliament or at local level.

According to Danish broadcaster TV2, Paludan was not injured himself in the violence which erupted on Sunday.

Last year Denmark's immigration minister faced a backlash after suggesting that Muslims fasting for Ramadan pose a safety hazard in some jobs.

Integration minister Inger Stoejberg urged people fasting to to take leave from work 'to avoid negative consequences for the rest of Danish society'.