More Than 500 Arrested In Copenhagen Riots

Police Fear More Street Violence After Two Nights Of Clashes Over Squatters

(AP)  Some 3,000 people demonstrated Saturday in Copenhagen against the closure of a disputed youth center as police braced themselves for more violence following two nights of riots that turned parts of the Danish capital into a battlefield.

Authorities said 207 people were arrested early Saturday following overnight clashes in which angry demonstrators pelted police with cobblestones and set fire to cars.

More than 500 people were arrested, including scores of foreigners, since the riots started Thursday after an anti-terror squad evicted squatters from the so-called "Youth House" in the Noerrebro district.

On Saturday afternoon, demonstrators marched peacefully toward the four-story building that for years has served as a popular cultural center for anarchists, punk rockers and left-wing groups.

Hundreds of police followed the procession from a distance and sealed off streets in the area around the disputed building.

"The idea of an alternative society is good," said Berit Larsen, 57, as she watched the demonstration pass by. "We need to have room for everyone, but the violence we have seen is not what I consider an alternative way for society."

In overnight clashes, a school was vandalized and several buildings were damaged by fire. One protester was reportedly wounded in the violence early Saturday, while 25 were injured in riots the night before. Police said the street violence was the worst in a decade.

"In the last 10 years we haven't had riots like we've seen in the past two days," police spokesman Flemming Steen Munch said.

Police searched more than 10 homes in Copenhagen in an effort to track down activists, he said.

Meanwhile, vandals covered Copenhagen's famed Little Mermaid statue with pink paint. Police could not say whether the vandalism was linked to the riots.

Police said foreign activists from Sweden, Norway and Germany joined hundreds of Danish youth, hurling cobblestones at riot police and setting cars on fire. In a sign the Danish youth expected foreign help, the Web page of "Ungdomshuset," or the Youth House, posted a warning in English that Danish police had increased border controls.

"This is a display of anger and rage after more than seven years of struggle to keep what is ours," 22-year-old activist Jan told the AP by telephone, adding that he had been coming to the building for 10 years. He declined to give his last name, saying that was the norm among the people frequenting the building.

"We want to continue with the activities we used to have, like concerts and stuff. If they gave us that, the conflict would have been over," he said.

The building, which has been viewed as free public housing by young squatters since the 1980s, has become a popular cultural center for youngsters with anti-establishment and far-left sympathies.

Authorities say it also has been a staging point for numerous left-wing demonstrations that turned violent in recent years.

Saturday's violence broke out after midnight when protesters gathered near the youth house in the Noerrebro district of Copenhagen. The demonstrators briefly clashed with police and erected barricades, which they set on fire along with four cars.

Hundreds of police officers in riot gear used tear gas to disperse the crowd, pushing away demonstrators and onlookers to make way for firefighters scrambling to put out blazes that sent smoke billowing into the night sky.

Across the city, other groups of protesters set fire to trash bins, while protesters ransacked a school and hurled chairs, desks and computers onto the street.

Danish newspaper Nyhedsavisen, a free daily, Saturday said one of its reporters had been suspended for allegedly participating in the riots while on assignment.

In an apology posted on the newspaper's Web site, Editor in Chief David Trads said the reporter "to some extent took part in the disturbances by throwing cobble stones," and called the behavior "totally unacceptable."

The clashes were Denmark's worst since May 18, 1993, when police fired into a crowd of rioters protesting the outcome of a European Union referendum. Ten of the protesters were wounded.

The eviction had been planned since last year, when courts ordered the squatters to hand the building over to a Christian congregation that bought it six years ago.

The squatters refused to leave, saying the city had no right to sell the building, which has hosted concerts with performers like Australian Nick Cave and Icelandic singer Bjork. They have demanded another building for free as a replacement.

Police said the protesters appeared to have been organized by left-wing extremists, but youth vandals with no clear political motive joined up.

Sympathy protests were held in Hamburg, northern Germany, and in Norway, Sweden and Finland.

[vince773]

The kids of the house has been in court for SIX YEARS trying to solve this in a peaceful way people! But of course this is not reported in the international news (it wasn't even given any attention in the Danish press). All through this time Ruth Eversen has been the only one to be completely unwilling to compromise, and the kids have had to endure her right-wing, racist, sexist slurs against them. Can you understand now that they might be just a little ticked off, or should I say, pissed off?

I am no anarchist, and I believe that the law should be respected, but I can understand the reason the users of the house are frustrated. Remember that it is MY neighbourhood that's burning, so I think I'm entitled to an opinion on this. I just want you all to know that there is a lot more to this case than what you've read in the above article. Directly translated from Danish "Ungdomshuset" means "The Youth House" and "Faderhuset" means "The Father House". I think this is very symbolic of the struggle going on outside my window.

Vince

4/4 (read the below posts first)

[vince773]

The "Christian congregation" mentioned in the article, who are now the owners of the house are not just some random buyer. The city counsil of Copenhagen intended to sell the house to a buyer who would continue running the house as the cultural center it already was. However, in an enormous political blunder, they sold the house to "Faderhuset", who had masked themselves as a youth activity group, through a facade company, which they owned all the shares in. "Faderhuset" is not a "Christian congregation" but a fanatical sect, whose large sums of money are all controlled by their leader, the self proclaimed prophetess Ruth Eversen. She claims to be able to talk to God, among other things, and has, by use of threats of hellfire, forced her (rather small) congregation to devote their life (and by extension their money) to her. She has thus become rich enough to buy the house and has since refused any attempt from anyone to buy back the house (a fund HAS been established to buy it). But Ruth considers this a personal crusade against the homosexuals and devil worshippers of the house, and so will not sell it under any circumstance. The politicians are of course bound by their stupid actions, but it is still reprihensable that no one is willing to even acknowledge that the young people of the house have been completely ignored through out this.

3/3 (but I'm not quite finished... The above post is the last)

[vince773]

Now, the running of the house was based on an anarchistic ideal, where no one was in charge, and everything was decided in a committee held each Monday. So therefore the majority of the users are anarchists and thus has little respect for the right to personal property (a crash course in anarchism: they believe that no one should own anything as it leads to greed and power abuse, but that all should be shared according to need. "Give what you can, take what you need" is one of there creeds)*. This of course is a problem since they do not respect the fact that they do not "legally" own the house. They have owned and run the house de facto for the last 25 years, and that gives them the moral right to the house, which is more important than the legal right, in their view.

*: (Please note that I am no anarchist, and this is and extremely simplified and stereotypical way of describing their political views. There is much more to it than that, and I urge you to look into anarchist youth culture if you wish to make an informed decision on your views on it, rather than just take my word for it)

Now I am a liberal myself, a supporter of the free market, and I believe that the law should be upheld, so I don't support their views, but there is much more to their anger than what I've mentioned up until now. One very important factor should be taken into account, before you decide that their anger is completely unfounded, a factor which is given NO mention in the above article:

(Continues) 2/3

[vince773]

I live 50 yards from the "Youth House" mentioned in the article, and as such, I feel I am in a position to clear up a few things for some of you. Firstly, most users of the house are either students, or has a job, and so they are neither bums who are not willing to work, nor are they people who are "dumbed down" by television; I imagine they read more books than other Danes, on average. Secondly, when the house was declared in too bad shape after the fire in '96 the users of the house partly repaired the house themselves, and partly payed for the house to be returned to official standards, so they DID take care of it, and without getting payed too. Thirdly, the house is not a den for doing drugs and sitting around all day doing nothing: it is (or rather was) a house for political and cultural activities. They had a soup kitchen for homeless people, concerts (of many different styles of music, including folk music, so not just punk), children's theater and Haloween- Christmas- and Easter parties for children. They also held various activities for feminists, homosexuals and other minorities, and many anti-fascist activities and happenings (remember Denmark's laws of Freedom of Speech are so liberal that we allow Nazis in this country to do marches and demonstrations, so, needless to say, it is a good thing that someone uses these liberal laws to do counter marches and demonstrations against hatred, fascism and racism).

(Continues) 1/3

[pixelslinger]

"The true character of a person, or even of a group, usually does not emerge until it has been pushed to its limits. There really is no excuse for rioting in the streets, for "throwing molotov cocktails" at police, or at anyone, really. How does the idea of "peace" "love" "share" come across when the actions are "war" "hate" "mine"? Pogo said it well, "we have met the enemy and them is us."

Were you describing the Bush Administration here, or perhaps the American foreign policy as a whole?

[seafyre]

I agree with an earlier post who spoke of this group of young people having lost all moral authority by their actions. The true character of a person, or even of a group, usually does not emerge until it has been pushed to its limits. There really is no excuse for rioting in the streets, for "throwing molotov cocktails" at police, or at anyone, really. How does the idea of "peace" "love" "share" come across when the actions are "war" "hate" "mine"? Pogo said it well, "we have met the enemy and them is us."

This group of disillusioned young people are made more so by their drugs and lack of personal discipline. We have them in America too, they come out at night and slash tires, break windows, do random acts of violence.

The only solution I have is totalitarian in the extreme -- isolation from society with only books for company -- until the world returns to reading as its primary source of information and mental excercise we will continue to be "dumbed down" by television and, unable to react in times of crisis with rational behavior, will instead react irrational and violently.

I am very sorry for all that were involved. I am glad that I was not there on either side of the street. The "security forces" apparently acted in great professionalism, I did not read of anyone being killed -- that is a blessing we can all be thankful for. For all this to have happened without loss of life means that there is hope yet for us all.

[susanhelit]

Stupid protesters - that's what happens when the government is nice - they take advantage and get ticked when expected to live by the same rules as everyone else. Come on now - go BUY yourself a house, from money you can make WORKING for a living, rather than living off of everyone else.

This isn't some noble battle against an evil government pushing the small guy around - it's just a bunch of squatters that can't accept that this property, which they took such lousy care of it needed to be demolished, has been sold, and belongs to someone else now.

[jcmiller23]

Why do leftist peace protests always turn out violent, and end up with the injuring of the protesters, law enforcement, and the destruction of property? I thought they were supposed to be all about peace...oh well!

[long_rider]

While the American sheep graze maybe they have the time to ponder a few things.

Can a protest help this situation?
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/print.php?pid=865

Our liar chimp telling congress, and America, he is going to do what he wants to do.

Or perhaps we could make a difference in this situation:
"PLAYING POLITICS WITH WAR"

"If Democrats are determined to go all the way to stop the Iraq war, they will probably have to impeach, convict and oust President George W. Bush and Vice President *** Cheney %u2014 which is another way of saying that Democrats are not going to stop or limit this war._ That is because it is a safe bet that Democrats are not prepared to go that far, and an even safer bet that Bush will veto anything Congress passes. So what is the point of Democratic congressional leaders staging votes on binding legislation without having the votes to override a veto (as evidenced by their failure to pass a non-binding resolution in the Senate)? Forcing Republicans to repeatedly go on the record in support of Bush%u2019s unpopular war policies %u2014 while having no effect in Iraq %u2014 does serve Democratic interests in hammering GOP incumbents at the ballot box next year."

What to do? What to do? munch, munch.

[long_rider]

No matter if leftest, middle of the road, or right wingers are involved in action in Copenhagen, the fact is they are taking a stand against a government action. I don't care if what they are advocating is considerede wrong in most peoples eyes, they are willing to commit to and idea, and fight for it.

We who live in America, have accepted that nothing can be accomplished by fighting the system. We let a liar, murderer lead our country, we permit our government to kill 3,000 people in the WTC on 9/11, we let out lying government get our country into a no win war, and the list goes on and on.

We Americans set back like sheep and continue grazing like nothing happened. Sure wish Americans would take a stand against our lying government, fight the lying news media, and try to regain the respect this great nation once had.

As for those in Copenhagen - fight on brothers, fight on.

[beehive21-2009]

STOP (state tax on ***)and built a new house.

[bmw_r750]

Get high, party your brains out. Make a difference? Yeah, sure you are. Just an excuse to have a place to smoke dope while you wait for your parents to pass on. Then, get their cash and really party. Or, get a little older. Look, nothing sadder than a gray haired old *** on hash talking about how they had a friend, who had a friend, in the Red Brigades, and that bomb that blew up Ramstein pflugplatz in 1980. Yip-ee! My revenge? Watching as you all slowly come to the realization that having that engineering degree and making cash is more fun than living in a flop with 20 other volk. So, have a good time, watch as your friends get fewer and fewer, and one day, putting on that suit and working for Bayer or Dutch Shell. Ha! Ha! Ha!

[cbgb31]

God who cares. Throw the bums out.

[zootallures2]

They should come to Seatle, WA where the WTO will give them a building for creating violence for the news media. To stop any peaceful protests that might stop the globalists slave labor trade. That way when the real protests start, police can arrest everyone EXCEPT these thugs, who were shown on our great, honest news channels. Or the same happened in London.

Doug1311, to clear up the confusion, a bit of history:

October 1982, the municipality of Copenhagen allowed the youth to use the house.

Januray 1996, there was a fire in the house, and fungus and rot was discovered. The municipality planed to demolish the house for safety reasons, but the squatters resist this.

January 2000, the house was set for sale, and in December, a company called 'Human A/S' bought the house. 'Human A/S' was subsequently acquired in September 2001 by a pseudo-christian sect, 'Faderhuset'.

In January 2004, the City Court decided that 'Faderhuset' had the right of usage. The decision is appealed.

In August 2006, the National Court confirmed the City Court decision.

In September 2006, a foundation called 'Fonden Jagtvej 69' offered to buy the house for a fair amount of money, but 'Faderhuset' refused to sell.

The Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ungdomshuset is pretty accurate and balanced. Some recent history is missing; the Copenhagen Municipality tried pretty hard to find another house, while militant 'Youth House' activists remain steadfast (or stubborn, rather) -- they want to stay.

I'm rather sad about this outcome. I've been living nearby for about 30 years.

[doug1311]

Had the Norwegians, Germans, and Swedes who came to Denmark to violently protest used the cost for their transportation and accomodations to instead donate their money to a fund that could have been set up, the building could have been purchased, and the eviction would have been stopped. When I see on tv how the protesters were throwing their Molotov cocktails at the police trying to burn the officers alive, I have absolutely no sympathy for the protesters. They have lost all moral authority for any position they may have.

[effulgent]

"typical leftist" oh so now the problem is not scary Muslims but typical leftists, lol

it must be difficult for American conservatives to dislike liberals in western societies but love them in Islamic ones. Then pretend that secular "leftists" are allied with religious extremists

Liberal societies are the model, yet at home conservatives push for restrictions that mirror religious laws in the same way as their supposed enemy.

There is no way around it, you cannot advocate for freedom then complain when not everybody wants to pray to a statue of Reagan

[effulgent]

..........manages to screw up a story, add a lot of s3xy language to make it sound shocking, and completely blow past the fact that the people in the country were angry at the police for using force...........

Funny how they filtered out the word from posts, just testing to see if they filter out of one of their own stories

"Men fall for the "*** librarian" look every time. Put your hair up with some sparkly bobby pins, then let him pull them out for you. When your hair tumbles down from the updo, he's a goner."http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/10/earlyshow/saturday/main2458061.shtml

Pardon the mess, this post was not on topic, i was just a little perplexed that a common word got *** in my orig post
Cheers

[bj1693]

Typical leftest students, they expect someone else to pay for their meeting place even though most of the tax payers don't want it, or them hanging out. They riot like spoiled children on a temper tantrum, destroying property with no regard to being accountable for the destruction. Someone should have given them the fundamental values of civilized people while they were still children.

[effulgent]

This had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY MUSLIM this article does not tell you anything of value, If you want to know what happened read non-American press
"The struggle will continue for a long time. As long as there is no Youth House in Copenhagen, there will be a fight to get one," said Jan, a spokesman for the youth center. A peaceful demonstration was also held on Saturday ending in Copenhagen's multi-ethnic, working class Norrebro district, the focus of recent protests with the hippie enclave Christiania. The conflict over the youth centre has simmered since 2000 when local government sold the building to a religious group. Left-wing activists have used it as a base since 1982 but the current owners gained a 2006 court order to evict squatters."
A quote from http://www.stuff.co.nz/3981524a12.html
Is it not strange that the main stream media manages to screw up a story, add a lot of *** language to make it sound shocking, and completely blow past the fact that the people in the country were angry at the police for using force.
Wake up America, for even suggesting that there must have been a spooky Muslim involved shows how empty of any real substance this story is.
"But Denmark has a tradition of non-conformism and tolerance for rebellion against authorities, and many Copenhagen residents say they support the youngsters' wish to stay in the youth house."
Once again Incompetence on Parade
Every problem is not solved from the point of the spear, and no im not Muslim