CHRISTIANA ALMIGHTY

Christiana – the famous squatted community in Copenhagen (see SchNEWS 513) was under attack again this Tuesday (28th) – with ensuing riot. Goons from Slots & Ejendomsstyrelsen (S&E), the government authority for Christiana, arrived at 7.30am to evict the second storey of a house. People were dragged out of their beds and by 9am construction workers were tearing the top floor down. Some 300 police – one of the largest police operations yet against Christiana – were on hand to help the eviction with tear gas guns in hand, and cleared the area of onlookers.

It’s claimed that this second floor was built without permission – but permission is always declined, making any new building at Christiana illegal.

By late morning a demonstration marched from Christiana to the S&E offices – as police tried to blockade them. One police car charged at the crowd hitting two people, but no one was seriously injured. One of the city’s bridges was then taken by protesters for an hour, who marched back to Christiana. Then at 5pm, after this demo had dispersed, people regrouped and took another bridge.

Later, back at Christiana, police and protesters faced off at the entrance to Christiana, as large amounts of tear gas was met with flying bottles. Then the survivors broke around police lines and started lighting fires on the street, and the streetrage continued for several hours. Apparently police ran out of tear-gas and had to have more supplies brought in from elsewhere. Eventually the police pushed the gas-choked crowd back into the entrance of Christiana, with twelve arrested.

See http://english.indymedia.dk

* For more on last year’s Danish riots see SchNEWS 579