Danes were as surprised as Americans over the case of a Danish woman who left her baby unattended outside a Manhattan restaurant - but for a different reason.
Leaving a baby alone for a spell is not unusual, say Danes, but that New York police would put the woman in jail and seize the baby - that's odd."They what!? They must be completely crazy over there," Line Vang said as her 7-month-old son dozed several tables away at an outdoor cafe.
"Come on, we do this all the time," Vang said. "We go in for a cup of coffee, sit so we can see the stroller, go out and check once in a while and that's it."
"Dane in a grotesque nightmare in New York: Police stole my baby," ran a front-page headline in the tabloid B.T.
In Manhattan, Annette Sorensen was jailed for two days and her 14-month-old daughter seized by police. A judge ordered the baby returned Tuesday, but the case was due back in criminal court Monday and in family court May 21.
New Yorkers found it shockingly unsafe to leave a baby unattended outside, even briefly.
But in Denmark, babies often nap in strollers in back yards of housing complexes, with parents occasionally checking from upstairs windows.
Even Hillary Rodham Clinton noted the custom during a 1995 visit to Denmark, saying it was evidence of how safe the country is.
"People seem to be overreacting," said Tue Hoejbjerg, who left his son curbside for about 10 minutes Tuesday while he bought a snack in a fast-food restaurant.
Child kidnappings are rare in Denmark; police said Tuesday they know of fewer than a dozen cases a year in the Copenhagen area, home to about 1.3 million people.