The Affluent Society and its Enemies

Reclaim the Streets is alive and vibrant. The demonstrations for the Youth House in Copenhagen have been gaining momentum for several days. On Saturday some 3000 young people walked in demonstration from the Youth House in Nørrebro to Christiania. The house has been bought by the Christian sect the Fatherhouse, which has won legal right to evict the young people.

On Sunday the demonstrations evolved into a Reclaim the Streets action. The young anarchists who had got reinforcements from Germany (Die Autonome) and Sweden blocked the Dronning Louise Bridge to interior Copenhagen. Here they were met by numerous police. The police claim that the demonstration had not been notified, and therefore it would be considered illegal. Some demonstrators put on balaclavas, which has been illegal in Denmark since the demonstrations during the EU summit meeting in 2002.

The police succeeded in pressing the demonstrators back from the Queen Louise Bridge to Inner Norrebro, where street battles raged for some hours, and the police made some 260 arrests. Police have been accused of using too much violence during some of these arrests. Politicians from the Unit List (Red-Green Alliance) and social liberal Radicals have taken up the matter. They will pose question about the role of the police to Minister of Justice Lene Espersen.