2009-12-15
Danish police cordoned off an area of Copenhagen last night and used teargas for the first time during the climate change conference.
Officers arrested about 150 people after repeatedly firing teargas into a party organised by climate change protesters. Witnesses accused officers of a heavy-handed response.
At 1.20am police lifted the blockade of the Christiania area of the city and allowed about 2,000 people to leave.
One witness said that he had been dancing at the party, which had been addressed by the writer Naomi Klein, when riot police with dogs stormed in.
Lily Kember, 22, from London, said: “There was no warning. We were dancing, having a great night and then suddenly the tent was full of teargas. I saw an old man near me doubled up and coughing.”
Richard George, 29, of the British group Plane Stupid, said: “I went to the toilet, and when I came out there was something in the air and my eyes started watering.
“It was teargas, and the police were firing repeated shots into the marquee. People were hiding, trying to get away from the gas.”
Ayman Ahwal, who works for the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Science, said: “I didn’t witness any violence from the protesters and nobody seemed to see any violence. To me it looked like the police suddenly came in in huge numbers. It seemed like overkill and like they had been wanting to do this for a while.”
Police have been accused throughout the conference of adopting an aggressive approach to the thousands of protesters who have arrived in the city.
Hundreds of arrests were made during the weekend.
After last night’s arrests there was a tense calm on the cobbled streets of Christiania, as teams of riot police patrolled the previously semi-autonomous enclave.
Residents slowly returned through the early hours of the morning, congregating around braziers and occasionally taunting the passing police. The region’s main exit – a large wooden arch painted with the words ‘you are now entering the EU’ – showed signs of the struggle that happened just hours before.
Broken bottles lay strewn around its base and, beyond, the remains of makeshift barricades still partially blocked the road.
The reason for last night’s raid, which started at about 11pm, was unclear to those caught up in it.
Mr George said: “We can only assume that it was intended to get a reaction. This was a squatting area and there’s been a long-running fight between it and the police.”