Source: Washington Post

Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has been the target of Muslim extremists for his artwork, reportedly was attacked Tuesday while speaking at Stockholm’s Uppsala University.

A day later, Vilks remains undaunted and wants to deliver another lecture about free speech, he told the Associated Press.

Vilks reportedly was in shock and had his glasses broken in the melee Tuesday, at a lecture marked by a violent protest that prompted police to use pepper spray and batons to remove Vilks from the scene.

The artist says he wants to hold the lecture again if the university, Sweden’s oldest, will reinvite him.

This year, Vilks, 53, was the target of an alleged murder plot. He has faced death threats since depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad as a dog in a 2007 illustration.

“What you get is a mob deciding what can be discussed at the university,” Vilks told the AP. “I’m ready to go up again,” he said. “This must be carried through. You cannot allow it to be stopped.”

Battles over freedom of expression vs. beliefs about Muhammad depictions have been waged on several cartoon-related fronts this year.

Comedy Central recently censored attempts by the animated show “South Park” to depict and satirize Muhammad, said the show’s creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Comedy Central’s editing of recent episodes prompted some cartoonists to show their support for Stone and Parker, whose show sparked talk of violence by the New York-based group Revolution Muslim.

Seventeen Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonists recently signed a petition to support the “South Park” creators and their right to freedom of expression without threat of violence. Several days ago, another Pulitzer winner, Pat Oliphant, added his name to that petition.

One of the cartoonists to sign that petition, Signe Wilkinson of the Philadephia Daily News, told Comic Riffs on Wednesday: “I send my sympathies to the European cartoonists who have born the brunt of this inexplicable lack of humor. I also send my sympathies to all the good-natured Muslims who get a bad name as a consequence of the bad actions of a few.

“And I am grateful,” Wilkinson continued, “that most of the Muslims in this country came, in part, for the freedom of expression they don’t have in a lot of their home countries. They seem to get the fact that cartoons don’t kill people — crazy religious fanatics do.”

Ann Telnaes, who also signed that petition, echoes Wilkinson’s sentiments. “I send my sympathies to all the cartoonists who have been attacked and threatened. It is ironic that this assault on Lars Vilks happened at a university, a place where ideas and debates should be expressed freely.”

According to AP, the Stockholm university said it is “not very likely” that Vilks would be asked back.

Footage of the aftermath of the attack