(Bloomberg) -- It’s a city where mothers are used to leaving their babies in prams outside cafes and cyclists can bike through parliament square without encountering a single security guard.
Now, Copenhagen is full of heavily armed police officers and the constant sound of sirens as the government warns citizens that things are about to change.
The Danish capital, which topped a 2014 Monocle ranking of livable cities, is in a state of shock after attacks that erupted on Saturday are being investigated as a terrorist act. Two people were shot dead and five police officers wounded. Security services gunned down the suspect after he shot at them on Sunday following a manhunt that lasted through the night.
Danes now need to brace themselves for a new reality, Justice Minister Mette Frederiksen said at a press conference on Sunday. “There’s no room to be naïve,” she said. “These are dark forces that want to hurt us.”
As European leaders declare their determination to preserve the region’s way of life in the face of extremism, the risks of doing so are proving daunting. A record security operation is now under way in Copenhagen with units from all over the country sent to the capital. The shootings in Denmark may have been inspired by the January massacre in Paris at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, police said. About 10,500 soldiers have been deployed in France since that attack.

‘Concrete Danger’

Some European cities are canceling planned events in response to the threat. The city of Braunschweig in Germany called off its carnival after receiving reliable information there was “concrete danger of an attack,” police said on Sunday.
One of the Copenhagen shootings resulted in the death of a Jewish man standing outside a synagogue. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expects that the “wave of attacks” against Jews in Europe will continue and called for a “massive immigration” of Jews to Israel from Europe.
Denmark’s Islamic Council condemned the attacks. All religions “must distance themselves from” acts of terror, the council said in comments published by TV2.
Standing next to Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Frederiksen said people living in Copenhagen need to be aware “there will be a lot more police” on the streets. “This will continue for a while. But we’re experiencing a capital city that looks different now.”

Continued Debate

The attack started in a cafe bordering one of Copenhagen’s largest parks in the wealthy district of Oesterbro, where an event had been planned to discuss the role of art, blasphemy and free speech in society. One of the speakers was Lars Vilks, known for a caricature in which the Prophet Muhammad is depicted as a dog. Vilks, who was unharmed, was already receiving police protection before the Saturday shooting. A 55-year-old man attending the event was shot dead and three police officers were wounded.
Just moments after fearing for their lives as bullets pierced through glass and furniture, attendees at the event carried on the debate, according to Helle Merete Brix, a member of the Lars Vilks committee.
“When Lars Vilks and I emerged from the room where we had been hiding, we were surprised to see that some of the panelists had taken the initiative to restart the debate,” she said by phone. “There was actually a power-point presentation going on, which was a sharp contrast to the chaos that had just been. It was a brilliant idea.”

Powder Keg

Guests at the Krudttoenden cafe, which roughly translates into the Powder Keg and is a popular Copenhagen venue for cultural gatherings, “experienced shock and fear -- and tragedy,” Vilks wrote on his blog. As to the matter of free speech, “where do we stand now with that question?” he wrote.
Residents in the area are shaken. Ellise Jensen, a 35-year-old administrator at the Danish Energy Agency who lives about 500 meters from the site of the Oesterbro shooting, said she arrived home at about 3 p.m. on the Saturday. She was out on the street an hour later when she saw police everywhere.
“I don’t know what to do about it, how to avoid being in the wrong place,” Jensen said. “I could easily have been there.”
The second shooting took place outside a synagogue in the center of the Danish capital, where a 37-year-old Jewish man died after being shot in the head by the gunman. Two police officers were also wounded in that attack. The suspect came from Copenhagen and was known to police.

Being Afraid

Philip Engelund, a 24-year-old master’s student attending the Copenhagen Business School, was on his way to his girlfriend’s place on Saturday night, about 1 kilometer north of the station where the gunman was shot down by police.
“Normally, it’s a very, very great city to live in. You can be out late without being afraid. You don’t have to think at all about being afraid,” he said. “But when I went to my girlfriend’s house between the two shootings, I was nervous. Even today, when I took the bus, I was still looking around.”
The government is now struggling to strike a balance by protecting its citizens without undermining the country’s famously laid-back relationship with authority. Danes are used to addressing their politicians by their first names. No government buildings are sealed off by fences and citizens have been free to press their noses up against the windows of the halls of power if they wanted to. Before Sept. 11, 2001, people could even freely enter the parliament building. They now need a pass.

A Madman

Copenhagen Mayor Frank Jensen is urging citizens to treat the attack as an isolated event perpetrated by a madman.
“There will obviously be a reaction to such an attack on our values and on our daily lives,” Jensen said in an e-mailed reply to questions. “But Copenhageners won’t allow themselves to be threatened by this form of terror and I hope we will soon see a return to normal life.”
Thorning-Schmidt urged Danes to “behave as we always do. Think and speak as we want to,” she said at a press conference on Sunday. “We’re not witnessing a battle between Islam and the west. This is a fight for freedom against a dark ideology.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen at cwienberg@bloomberg.net; Frances Schwartzkopff in Copenhagen at fschwartzko1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brogger at tbrogger@bloomberg.net; Jonas Bergman at jbergman@bloomberg.net Jonas Bergman