Copenhagen hit by riots
A protest by hundreds of youth activists turned violent in Denmark early today, with protesters setting fire to street barricades and cars and smashing shop windows, police said.
Officers used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
One officer was injured and 63 people were arrested as riot police clashed with rock-throwing youths in the Noerrebro district of Copenhagen, police said.
The unrest started after a demonstration late last night commemorating the Youth House, a makeshift cultural centre for the city’s anarchists and disaffected youths that was demolished in March.
“It’s six months since we cleared the house there, and they want to show they’ve not forgotten,” police spokesman Mads Firlings said. “Almost immediately they started building barricades and throwing rocks through the windows of shops and banks.”
He said police used tear gas to disperse the crowds who set fires to barricades and cars, including a police vehicle that had been abandoned by officers fleeing the angry mob.
The situation had calmed down during Sunday morning as crews started cleaning up streets charred by fire and littered with broken glass and rubbish, police spokesman Gunnar Noerager said.
He said one police officer received minor injuries when a tear gas canister accidentally exploded inside a police van.
“There has been violent destruction of shops and there have been fires,” he said. “It’s been really violent.”
In March, hundreds of people were arrested in several days of street violence when police evicted squatters living in the graffiti-sprayed brick building.
