This is sooo rock'n'roll...
Anarchists join Danish protesters
POSTED: 9:26 p.m. EST, March 3, 2007
var clickExpire = "04/2/2007"; Story Highlights• Anarchists from across northern Europe flock to join protesters
• Police in Denmark brace for more violence after two nights of street clashes
• Some 188 people were arrested overnight, and more than 200 the night before
• Violence started when police evicted squatters from a downtown building More than 500 people, including scores of foreigners, have been arrested since the riots started Thursday. Authorities
said more than 200 were arrested early Saturday following overnight
clashes in which demonstrators pelted police with cobblestones and set
fire to cars. A school was also vandalized and several buildings
damaged by fire early Saturday. One protester was reportedly wounded in
the violence, while 25 were injured the night before in what police
have called Denmark's worst riots in a decade. More scuffles were reported in various parts of the city Saturday night after a day of relative calm. Dozens
of police vans patrolled the streets and broke up gatherings of
protesters to prevent larger mobs from forming. Police said several of
those arrested were carrying Molotov cocktails or firecrackers, but
that no major violence was reported. Police said activists from
Sweden, Norway and Germany had joined hundreds of Danish youth in the
protests. Sympathy protests were held in Germany, Norway, Sweden and
Finland. Peter Vesterheden, the head of Copenhagen's prisons, said 25 foreigners had been arrested. Critics
said the demonstrations were misguided because they target a
Scandinavian welfare state that ranks among the world's most
egalitarian countries. "The spoiled kids in the Youth House woke
up to reality in Danish society where you have a job and pay rent,"
Anders Fredrik Mihle of the governing Liberal Party's youth wing said,
referring to the building where the squatters had been evicted. Like
its neighbors, Denmark has a generous welfare system supported by high
taxes. Education is free and health services are heavily subsidized.
However, leftists have criticized the center-right government for
eroding the system with proposed reforms including raising the
retirement age and trimming student grants. The protesters see
their fight to keep the "Youth House," a four-story building used by
young squatters since the 1980s, as symbolic of a wider struggle
against a capitalist establishment. "This is a display of anger
and rage after more than seven years of struggle to keep what is ours,"
said Jan, a 22-year-old activist who has been coming to the building
for the last 10 years. He declined to give his last name, saying that
was the norm among people frequenting the building. The riots
were sparked when an anti-terror squad on Thursday evicted the
squatters from the red brick building with graffiti-covered walls.
Built in 1897, it was a community theater for the labor movement and a
culture and conference center; Vladimir Lenin was among its visitors.
In recent years, it has hosted concerts with performers like Australian
Nick Cave and Icelandic singer Bjork. As news of the riots
spread, sympathizers around Europe rallied support for the protesters.
The Danes warned like-minded foreigners Saturday that the borders were
tightening after two nights of clashes had turned the normally quiet
streets of Copenhagen into a battle zone. "Solidarity among
people has no borders, just like the Spanish civil war or the youth
rebellion in the late 1960s. People recognize themselves in such
causes," said Rene Karpantschof, a sociology lecturer at the University
of Copenhagen and former squatter. 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 said the city had no right to sell the building, and they
demanded another building for free as a replacement. Police
spokesman Flemming Steen Munch said officers searched more than 10
homes in Copenhagen in an effort to track down activists. Meanwhile,
vandals covered Copenhagen's famed Little Mermaid statue with pink
paint, but Munch could not say whether the vandalism was linked to the
riots. Copenhagen residents had mixed feelings about the demonstrations. "The
idea of an alternative society is good," said Berit Larsen, 57, as she
watched a peaceful demonstration against the eviction on Saturday
afternoon. "We need to have room for everyone but the violence we have
seen is not what I consider an alternative way for society." Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Poor mermaid...history of vandalism. LINK
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