Danish Police Seize Protest Equipment

Per Larson, chief coordinator for the Copenhagen police, confirmed that equipment had been seized and said that it was likely meant to “be used to cause trouble” during a large-scale march planned for Saturday from Parliament to the Bella Center, where climate talks are being held.The police said they believed that the demonstrators intended to use the stairs to vault over barricades outside the center, and the shields to protect themselves. Also confiscated was what police described in a statement as “bubbly material” suitable for “the making of leg protections” — presumably bubble wrap.

“It tells us that we are facing a group of people who are ready to use civil disobedience and that they are ready to do vandalism,” Mr. Larsen said. “But we will continue to take it easy, and continue the dialogue we have with the activists.”

The equipment was seized in a raid on a building in the Osterbro section of Copenhagen around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. The building is owned by the city of Copenhagen, and it had been made available as free accommodations for up to 750 visiting activists, though police said there were only about 100 present at the time of the raid.

Police officials reported that among the confiscated items were 193 makeshift shields; 2 boxes of paint bombs; and 58 fluorescent tube lights that had been filled with a mixture of paint and oil, and nine large metal platforms on wheels carrying makeshift milk-crate staircases. But Mr. Larsen said that “there was no reason for arresting anybody,” because the equipment could not be tied to any specific people.

Lars Kroldrup contributed reporting.