[QODLink]
Europe
Denmark protest ends in violence
Demonstration against a youth centre's closure results in brief arrest of 186 people.
Last Modified: 17 Dec 2006 22:03 GMT
 Hundreds of masked demonstrators clashed with police in the Danish capital on Sunday

Danish authorities have released 186 protesters who were detained after a protest against the closure of a youth centre in Copehgagen turned violent.
 
Around 1,000 people protested on Sunday against court rulings ordering young squatters to leave a city centre building and hand it over to a Christian congregation that bought it five years ago.
Flemming Steen Munch, a Copenhagen police spokesman, said: "They are all Danish citizens."
 
Cobblestones and fireworks were thrown at police and at least one demonstrator suffered respiratory problems from the tear gas. Two people, a police officer and a demonstrator, were seriously injured.

Police also detained 84 foreigners, including 27 Swedes, 26 Norwegians, 20 Germans, five Dutchmen, two Finns, two Irishmen, one Russian and one American after the clashes.

Munch said: "They will be released tomorrow [Monday] or Tuesday."

Building sold

The violence followed a peaceful demonstration on Thursday, in an attempt to urge the Copenhagen city council to intervene and stop the eviction of the house's occupants.

City authorities gave a group of young squatters the right to use the four-storey building in 1982, but sold it in 2001 to the Father House community, a small Christian congregation that has tried to evict the youths.

The squatters have refused to leave, saying the city had no right to sell the building while it was still in use.

Denmark's Eastern High Court turned town their appeal on August 28 and ordered them out.

 

 

Source:
Agencies
Topics in this article
Country
City
Featured on Al Jazeera
An unflinching portrait of physical labour in the 21st century.
The stark choice between a fascist or an imperialist course in Syria should be discarded for a third and better course.
Israel's propaganda machine carefully chooses its words to assert illegal ownership over Jerusalem and Palestine.
As Western fears grow over Iran's continuing nuclear programme, we ask how a military strike could impact the region.
<  > 
join our mailing list

Enter Zip Code
Go