Hostel riots

Riots over a youth house erupt in Copenhagen, reports Amira El-Naqeeb

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Drastic measures were taken by Faderhuset, the Christian fundamentalist group that owns the youth hostel in the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Leftist activists have been illegally using the building as a cultural centre. According to Jyllands-Posten, the notorious Danish daily, wrecking crews have begun demolishing the building which has been witness "to important historical events" according to Danish press reports.

On Monday, Faderhuset, the legal owners of the four-storey facility, gave orders that the building be demolished. "There will be shops on the ground floor, and a Christian café on another," explained Ruth Evensen, head of the fundamentalist Christian sect, at a press conference later in the day.

More than 600 people were arrested to date by the Danish police. The trouble started on 1 March, in Copenhagen, when protests over the eviction of squatters from a youth centre spread across the city. The youth hostel, located in the Noerrebro district, was the focus of much cultural activity. "The hostel was turned into a house for youngsters and was taken over by squatters since 1982," Torben Brant, Danish journalist and media advisor told Al-Ahram Weekly.

According to the BBC, Danish police clashed with demonstrators who barricaded streets, set several cars on fire and threw stones and petrol bombs at the security forces.

Hundreds of police officers were deployed in Noerrebro and the troubled district of Christiana on Friday in an attempt to prevent renewed violence.

"Many cars were set on fire. For them, it is a game," Brant, who lives in the same area, added.

The municipality sold the house in 2000, to a Christian fundamentalist group, which obtained a court eviction order. The BBC also mentioned that negotiations have been going on for a while, but the left-wing activists who have occupied the building since 1982, vowed not to leave "saying that the council had no right to sell the building while it was still in use."

Jesper Olsen, one of the news editors in the Danish Radio, said on the third day of riots that "it was only peaceful demonstrations so far, but the police were expecting riots at night".

Right-wing Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has condemned the leftist rioters. Thursday's operation to evict the squatters resulted in some 217 arrests, and another 300 were arrested on last Friday and Saturday. According to the police at least half of the arrested people were foreigners and they are going to be released. Scores were injured in horror scenes described by the Danish media as a "war zone".

Protest organisers tried to rally supporters through text messages. Brant said that those young people have a network all over Europe. "It was a sort of a cultural house, where new bands from all over Europe play and rehearse".