Arrests Common in Copenhagen

Police presence in Copenhagen during COP15 has been intense.  Not only have they relocated nearly all of the Danish police to the city, they have also brought in law enforcement from neighboring countries Germany and Sweden.  Since Saturday over a thousand activists have been arrested in Copenhagen and that number is only expected to increase as the conference continues and civil society is kicked out of the Bella Center.

On Saturday 968 of hte 30,000 to 100,000 people participating in the march were arrested by police on the grounds that the police had received intelligence that they were planning violence.  Most of those arrested were youth and from what I can gather, they didn’t look any different than the other thousands of youth (including the SSC) participating in the march. For a better visual of what went on watch the video linked to the article.

Then, last night in Christiania, an area of Copenhagen in which police traditionally don’t have any jurisdiction, 194 activists were arrested after protests turned violent and barricades were burnt. This was following middle of the night raids by riot police on activist housing in warehouses where props for direct actions were being built.

Now, I’m not exactly sure what Copenhagen’s law enforcement capacity is but I’m pretty sure these arrests are more than a city of its size can handle. And I’m worried about what’s going to happen on the streets in the coming days as activists that were working inside the Bella Center are now all organizing on the streets due to limited access to the negotiations.