DENMARK’S cosy idyll of bicycling monarchs and accessible politicians was shattered yesterday by the torching of the Immigration Minister’s car.

Flames spread from the garage of Rikke Hvilshøj, the Minister, and engulfed the roof of her home but no one was hurt. Anarchists opposed to Denmark’s tough asylum laws claimed responsibility.

“We heard a large explosion and my family got out of the home,” said Ms Hvilshøj, 34, who has presided over some of the harshest immigration policies in Europe. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Prime Minister, said that he had received the news “with the greatest disgust and regret”.

The Minister and her two young children have been moved to a secret location. Bodyguards, who are normally given only on an ad hoc basis to Danish politicians, were yesterday assigned to all Cabinet Ministers. Ms Hvilshøj was seen outside Parliament with two police escorts.

The attack reminded Danes of the fatal stabbing of Anna Lindh, the Swedish Foreign Minister, in 2003. Ms Lindh was killed while shopping in central Stockholm, unaccompanied by a bodyguard. The murder sent shock waves throughout Scandinavia and showed how Sweden’s open society was uncomfortable in an age of terrorist threat.

Although Denmark was stunned by the Lindh murder it refused to go down the Swedish route and tighten politicians’ security. One opinion poll showed that two thirds of Danes thought similar political violence could occur in their own country, yet only 27 per cent thought ministers should be allowed bodyguards.

Mads Stenbjerre, the head of research at Copenhagen’s Zapera Polling Institute, said: “Danes place the openness of society above the threat of attacks on politicians.”

The informal relationship between politicians and the voters is part of Danish culture. Children walk to school on their own, Parliament can be visited without elaborate security checks, ministers cycle between appointments and Queen Margrethe goes shopping in Copenhagen or Aarhus with friends and courtiers, rather than policemen.

Workindenmark.dk, a government-backed internet guide for foreigners, claims: “Even famous business executives here do not feel the need to surround themselves with bodyguards.”

But the passion stirred by Denmark’s immigration rules is strong. Five years ago a car belonging to the head of the Danish immigration service was firebombed.

The latest attack was organised by a group calling itself “Action Group Border-less Beate”.

Denmark’s immigration laws have cut benefits to foreigners, restricted the right to marry and discouraged the arrival of any refugee over the age of 60. Spouses are not allowed to join their partners in Denmark unless they have a sufficiently large apartment and income.

A foreigner based in Denmark must have at least 7,000 krone (£630) in his Danish bank account before he can even ask to bring his wife into the country.

A foreigner also has to pass a test equivalent to the linguistic ability of a 14-year-old Danish child to get residence.

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