
Tens of thousands of Danes gathered at memorials around the country on Monday, commemorating victims of deadly attacks on a synagogue and an event promoting free speech that shocked a nation proud of its record of safety and openness.

A torch-lit manifestation in Copenhagen this evening attracted a large crowd, including Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and political leaders from fellow Nordic countries.

Singing John Lennon's Imagine, defiant Danes promised to uphold their trademark open society and showed solidarity with the country's Muslim minority after the gunman was identified as 22-year-old with Palestinian roots and a passion for Islamist issues.

United: Hundreds of Danes hold candles and torches during a memorial service in Copenhagen for the two men who were killed in the double-attacks in the capital on Saturday

In honour: People place lit candles and flowers as a memorial service in Copenhagen on Monday night

A sign bearing the hashtag 'NotAfraid' lies among flowers, and Danish, French and Israeli flags outside the cultural club in Copenhagen

Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, 22, opened fire on a cafe in hosting a free speech debate on Saturday, killing 55-year-old film director Finn Nørgaard, and attacked a synagogue, shooting 37-year-old Dan Uzan, who was volunteering as a security guard at a Bat Mitzvah.

El-Hussein was later killed in a shootout with police in his neighborhood of Norrebro, a largely immigrant part of the Copenhagen.

Flowers had been laid out at the scene where El-Hussein was shot dead, but they were later removed by a group of young men for being 'un-Islamic'.

A Danish TV channel filmed the men, who had covered their faces, as they kicked the flowers and threw them away, explaning to a reporter that it is 'not a Muslim tradition to lay flowers for dead people,' The Local reports.

Police arrested two people on suspicion of aiding the attacks but said there was no indication the shooter was part of a cell or had traveled to Syria or Iraq.

'We have now experienced the fear that terrorism seeks to spread,' Helle Thorning-Schmidt said.

'The Danish democracy is strong, the Danish nation is strong, and we will not accept any attempt to threaten or intimidate our liberties and our rights.'

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt was present on Monday evening during the candle-light vigil in Copenhagen

The shootings, which Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt called acts of terrorism, sent shockwaves through Denmark and have been compared to the January attacks in Paris by Islamist militants that killed 17

Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, 22, opened fire on a cafe in hosting a free speech debate on Saturday, killing 55-year-old film director Finn Nørgaard, and attacked a synagogue, shooting 37-year-old Dan Uzan, who was volunteering as a security guard at a Bat Mitzvah

Attack: El-Hussein, born in Denmark with Palestinian roots, was later killed in a shootout with police

Thousands of Danes left flowers at the synagogue, walking in a quiet, solemn procession, with many also leaving both Danish and Israeli flags

Finn Norgaard, 55, (left) was killed at a free speech debate in a cafe hours before 37-year-old Dan Uzan (right), a basketball player, was shot in the head as he guarded the door of a Bat Mitzvah at a synagogue

Jewish leaders also called for calm and tolerance as some Muslims feared a backlash.

'We fight together with them (Muslims) for religious rights. We are moderates. We fight together against extremism and radicalism,' Dan Rosenberg Asmussen, chairman of the Danish Jewish Community, told a press conference.

Thousands of Danes left flowers at the synagogue, walking in a quiet, solemn procession, with many also leaving both Danish and Israeli flags. A march by PEGIDA, the anti-Islam movement born in Germany, however, attracted only around 50 people.

Saturday's cafe event was attended by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has received death threats for drawings of the Prophet Mohammad, and by French ambassador Francois Zimeray, who likened the attacks to the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris. Vilks and Zimeray were both unharmed.

Vilks, who is believed to have been the target of the attack, has today spoken of his ordeal and how he managed to survive the attack.

The artist, who has lived in permanent hiding since his 2007 cartoon which depicted the Prophet Mohammed as a stray dog, said he was thrown into a storage room by his bodyguards as soon as shots were fired.

'We suddenly heard a lot of noise. There was a bang, bang, bang, and very quickly we could understand that something was going on,' he told CNN.

'They took me and threw me into a storage room together with the chairman and we were put under a table there, and we were guarded by policemen with drawn guns.'

'He [El-Hussein] was very well-equipped, and the policemen were not. Several of the policemen (were) wounded, but still they tried to fire back,' he added.

Vilks has previously spoken of how he sleeps with an axe under his bed and has had a panic room installed in his secret location house as he lives under constant threat from Islamist fanatics.

The killings shocked Danes who pride themselves on a welcoming and safe society, and fed into a national debate about the role of immigrants, especially Muslims. The populist Danish People's Party, which campaigned against the building of a mosque here, has strong support in the polls.

Denmark became a target of Islamists 10 years ago after the publication of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad, images that led to sometimes violent protests in the Muslim world.

Killed gunman El-Hussein was well known to police for violence, weapons violations and his membership in a gang.

Police records show a man named El-Hussein was convicted of stabbing a man in the leg on a Copenhagen train in 2013 and Danish media said he was released from prison in January.

'He was 'normal' religious, nothing unusual, he didn't go to mosque any more than the average Muslim,' El-Hussein's father told TV2.

He was an avid kick boxer in his younger years and was often known by the nickname 'Captain Hussein' but members of his club said he has not been there for years.

OMAR ABDEL HAMID EL-HUSSEIN: THE KNIFE-WIELDING THUG WHO GRADUATED FROM GANGSTER TO TERRORIST Prowling menacingly through a train with a knife, this is the gangster turned terrorist who caused mayhem in Copenhagen. Born in Denmark to migrant parents, Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein descended into a life of crime in his teenage years, joining notorious gang The Brothas and roaming the streets with a knife or a gun. By the time he was killed by armed officers outside a train station in the Danish capital yesterday, the 22-year-old had an extensive criminal record for offences including assault and possession of dangerous weapons. In November 2013, El-Hussein was caught on CCTV pulling a knife out on a train in Copenhagen. Moments later he walked down the aisle between the seats and select his victim at random. He knifed a 19-year-old man in the thigh and buttock before strolling off the train. He was jailed for the attack and was released from prison only two weeks ago, after serving his sentence for aggravated assault. He was known to Danish intelligence services, who said it was impossible to keep a round-the-clock watch on all its suspects. Last night it was unclear how El-Hussein was radicalised or if he had travelled to Syria or Iraq. The second shooting took place in Nørrebro, an ethnically mixed district of the capital where violent gang wars have recently raged. Locals say there is an ongoing tit-for-tat battle between bikers and ethnic minority youths. Some say the shootings over the weekend were part of a turf war over the lucrative hashish trade in the city. Others say it has been inflamed by feelings of marginalisation among ethnic minority youngsters. The National Night Owls Association, a voluntary public safety group that patrols the streets, has decided to pull out of the district. NNOA's Erik Thorsted said: 'This is the first time the organisation has had to give up on an area.' Nørrebro has a migrant population of almost 30 per cent and has been the site of many riots over the past 35 years. During the 1980s, it was often the setting for violent clashes between Danish police and militant squatters known as BZ. Criminal record: Police said El-Hussein (above) is known to them due to past violence, gang-related activities and and possession of weapons. He is pictured (right) in an image issued by police after the 2013 knife attack Advertisement

A basketball has been left tribute to Jewish victim Dan Uzan, 37, who was shot as he volunteered as a security guard at a bat mitzvah

The killings have shocked Danes who pride themselves on a welcoming and safe society, and they have fed into a national debate about the role of immigrants, especially Muslims

Unity: Denmark's Chief Rabbi Jair Melchior comforts a woman at a memorial site for the victims of the deadly attacks in front of the synagogue in Krystalgade in Copenhagen

People pause for a moment of silence at a memorial site for the victims of the deadly attacks in front of the synagogue in Krystalgade

'He was a good student,' Peter Zinckernagel, El-Hussein's principal at the VUC Hvidovre school near Copenhagen told Reuters. El-Hussein attended the school until the end of 2013, when he was arrested for the train stabbing.

National news broadcaster TV2 said El-Hussein's parents were Palestinian refugees who came to Denmark after living in a Jordanian refugee camp for several years.

TV2 obtained a psychiatric assessment of El-Hussein conducted in connection with the assault case for which he was imprisoned in which he told psychologists he had a happy childhood and good relations with his parents and a younger brother. However, he did not graduate from school, was unable to get into a university and later was homeless.

Citing two unnamed friends, Politiken daily newspaper said the man was passionate in discussions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and had a short fuse. They expressed shock that he should launch such attacks, however.

Norrebro, where the gunman lived, mixes housing estates and seedy bars with bicycle paths and gardens. However, as house prices in Copenhagen risen, many young professionals have also made the area their home and it now hosts trendy music venues and at least one Michelin-starred restaurant.

The attacks raised questions about whether Denmark should tighten security measures. Even before the attacks, parliament debated whether to pass a law that would allow authorities to confiscate the passports of radicalised youths wanting to travel to the Middle East.

The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Centre on Monday said it feared the recent attacks against Jews in Copenhagen and Paris could be the start of a 'pan-European epidemic' as it called for a Europe-wide conference against anti-Semitism.

The prominent Jewish rights group said the shootings in Copenhagen on Saturday followed the same pattern as the Islamist attacks in Paris last month, and were directed at 'freedom of expression activists, police and Jewish institutions'.

'Paris and Copenhagen are bound to be precedents for a pan-European epidemic. Condemnation is insufficient,' the group said in the statement, addressed to European Council President Donald Tusk.

It called on Tusk to organize a conference to 'combat anti-Semitism on every front'.

The weekend attacks saw a gunman kill a 37-year-old Jewish man outside a synagogue as well as a 55-year-old film-maker attending a debate on Islam and freedom of the press at a cultural centre. The gunman was later shot dead by police.

The attacks came just over a month after the January 7th-9th shootings in Paris that left 17 people dead, including a policewoman and four Jews at a kosher supermarket.