The Scandinavian nation has been viewed abroad as a place that facilitates insults and denigration of the cultures, religions and traditions of other countries.
During the more than four-hour debate, left-leaning and far-right parties united against the centre-right government, repeatedly demanding that the three-party coalition that presented the draft on August 25 take part in the discussion.
Inger Stojberg, of the anti-immigration Denmark Democrats, said the new law was a capitulation to Islam and a bowing down to countries that “do not share (our) set of values”.
This year alone, there have been more than 500 protests, including burnings of the Quran, in front of embassies of Muslim countries, places of worship and immigrant neighbourhoods.
Denmark’s centrist coalition government has argued that the new rules will have only a marginal impact on free speech and that criticising religion in other ways remains legal.
In 2006, Denmark was at the centre of widespread anger in the Muslim world after a Danish newspaper posted 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
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