2009-12-09
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Police in the Danish capital, where 190 governments are holding U.N. climate talks, seized a cache of paint bombs, shields and other gear overnight that they said could have been used by unruly demonstrators.
Some activist groups have threatened to disrupt the climate conference and “reclaim power” from officials meeting in Copenhagen, where more than 100 world leaders are expected to attend the final two days of the December 7-18 talks.
Police seized 58 tubular light bulbs filled with paint and oil, wire cutters, 193 wooden shields, nine cage-like metal racks on rollers and 200 plastic milk carton cases that the police said could be used as stairs to climb over fences.
The Copenhagen police said in a statement they confiscated items that could have been used “in connection with civil disobedience during demonstrations.” No one was detained.
Danish police spokesman Henrik Suhr said similar paint bombs had in the past been thrown by demonstrators at the windshields of police cars to prevent the drivers from seeing.
He said the milk boxes fastened to the metal racks with rollers “were obviously to be used to climb over a fence.”
Police seized the cache during a night-time search of an empty Copenhagen property next door to where hundreds of activists are lodged during the climate conference, he said.
One shield shown by police bore the slogan “Reclaim Power.”
Tannie Nyboe of activist group Climate Justice Action said in a statement: “It’s completely disproportionate for the police to come in at three o’clock in the morning, surround the sleeping-spaces and intimidate a lot of sleeping guests.”
The police said they had returned some tools of no interest to them.
Lars Kristiansen, who according to Climate Justice had been building sleeping quarters for visitors, said: “The Danish authorities have been criticized for failing to provide enough places for people who are coming to Copenhagen to sleep.”
“We were trying to meet that need, but now the police have confiscated the tools that we were using to construct those sleeping spaces,” he said.
(Reporting by John Acher, editing by Tim Pearce)