Posted on 03/03/2007 3:44:00 PM PST by blam
March 3, 2007, 4:00PM
Anarchists flock to join Denmark rioters
By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Anarchists from across northern Europe flocked to join protesters in the Danish capital on Saturday after two nights of riots sparked by the eviction of squatters from an abandoned building that had been a center for young leftists and punk rockers.
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 overnight 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.
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.
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
"Critics said the demonstrations were misguided because they target a Scandinavian welfare state"
Idiot critics think that parasites are grateful for their welfare.
"courts ordered the squatters to hand the building over to a Christian congregation that bought it six years ago."
So people bought their property six years ago and had to wait all this time for it?
Another example of the trouble that Europe is in.
It's always been a murderous continent.
Perhaps some enterprising travel agency can offer some discount flights for the nose ring wearing anarchists in this country.
They can market it like it will be like the Seattle riots with better architecture.
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.
"Police said activists from"
Hitler was an "activist" in his day. I hate that stupid word.
I like it. A Euro pol speaking my language.
They need to bust some stupid Anarchist Heads...the Left is full of POSs! kick them off the dole, friggin leeches!
Please correct me if my memory is off - I'm sure y'all will - but wasn't it the Dutch merchants that went armed into the streets with their blunderblusses and cut down the mobs that threatened them - they took no prisioners - and all was quiet for about 2 centuries after that ... 1600's ?
C'mon you young students - what really happened - my memories of reading about this are like 40 years ago.
Anyway sems like the Dutch lost their collective huevos and are now sh*t magnets with the policies they embrace.
The Dutch have always had one of the most tolerant societies in Europe. They welcomed the Jews fleeing from the Expulsion in Spain and Portugal as well as the Inquisition.
They also welcomed the several Protestant groups like the Puritans fleeing Britain.
Each group mentioned above came to live peacefully in the Netherlands - except this final group - Islam.
The Dutch were fine traders, very good seaman (Dutch West and East Indies) had fine schools and universities and welcomed artists.
But they also didn't tolerate anyone disrupting their cities and businesses - until now.
Europe has lost its way and is losing its identity.
Bring on the water cannons!
Been a while since i've seen
street trash forcibly
cartwheeled into cars
and brick walls and
washed down into the
gutters like they deseve!
It's Must See TV! <:oD
"Critics said the demonstrations were misguided because they target a Scandinavian welfare state that ranks among the world's most egalitarian countries."
And the govt. is naieve enough to expect these brats would be grateful?
While all that you are refering to may be true, the article was about Denmark, not the Netherlands.
Denmark does share many of the same societal goals as the Netherlands.
But you are right....well, at least we didn't mix it up with Turkmenistan or Gaudaloupe.
Arrg me matie - cutting back on the grog (for now). You are right!
.....but, as usual, have nothing to say about the thousands of immigrants who flock to Denmark and attach their lips firmly to the public teat, sucking the benefits that the DAnes who have paid into the system FOREVER ought to get.
Kill a few of em and the rest will go home.
There's one thing I've noticed in my dealings with "Anarchists." They enjoy destroying other peoples property. They really enjoy destroying public property.
But; if someone destroys their crap...
Don't worry, it's just pot-smoking anarchists anyway...troublemakers...
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