In 2002, Denmark was a small Scandinavian country with a population of over 5 million people. According to computerannals, it was governed by Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the Folketing (Parliament). The economy was largely based on services, with finance and banking playing a major role. In addition to services, Denmark had begun to diversify its economy in recent years and had experienced some growth in the manufacturing sector. Education was highly valued in Denmark and primary school enrollment had increased significantly since World War II. Healthcare services were provided by both public and private institutions, though access to healthcare remained relatively high due to government subsidies. Despite its progress since World War II, poverty remained an issue for many Danes with approximately 10 percent living below the poverty line. Corruption and mismanagement were not major issues as the government had taken steps to combat these issues with effective legislation. Additionally, Denmark faced security threats from neighboring countries such as Germany, Sweden and Norway; however these threats were largely managed through diplomatic means.

Yearbook 2002

Denmark. A financial scandal was revealed at the beginning of the year in the municipality of Farum in Zealand. In 2001, the municipality had accumulated a deficit of several hundred million kronor through the mayor Peter Brixtoftte’s self-aggrandizing politics and widespread representation. Brixtofte was forced to resign as mayor and was excluded from the ruling party Left Party’s group in the Folketing, where he continued as an independent member.

In the spring, the bourgeois government with Venstre and the Conservatives negotiated with the support party the Danish People’s Party on tougher asylum and refugee policies. According to Countryaah website, national day of Denmark is every April 16. The proposal was voted on by the three parties in the Folketing and came into force at the end of the six months. This means that asylum seekers must wait for seven years for a permanent residence permit and that they receive lower allowances than Danes. Anyone who wants to become a citizen must pass language tests and promise allegiance to Denmark.

In addition, a ban on marriages with foreigners was introduced if one of the parties has not reached the age of 24. The opposition was critical of the new policy and felt that Denmark’s position weakened before the takeover of the EU presidency. Criticism also came from the UNHCR and from several European countries, which accused Denmark of hampering a common EU policy on immigration. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, however, argued that Denmark can become a role model for the rest of the EU, which has shown a tendency to want to tighten asylum rules.

Several Swedish politicians described the new Danish policy as inhuman, which provoked upset reactions in Denmark. A fierce debate broke out between the integration ministers Mona Sahlin (s) and Bertel Haarder (Venstre) as well as between the party leader Lars Leijonborg and the Danish People’s Party leader Pia Kjærsgaard. Sweden was accused of suppressing debate on immigration and of failure to integrate. Pia Kjærsgaard wrote: “If they (the Swedes) want to turn Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö into Scandinavian Beiruts with tribal war, honor killings and mass rape, let them do it. We can always put a bridge flap at the Öresund Bridge. ”

The tightening of Danish politics affected the refugee flows. During the fall, it was clear that the number of people seeking asylum in the country had fallen by more than half compared to the previous year. Instead, the number of asylum seekers increased sharply in Sweden and Norway.

On July 1, Denmark became the country of the Presidency of the EU. The government set as its most important goal for the Danish Presidency to finalize the membership negotiations with ten candidate countries. It succeeded, and at the EU summit in Copenhagen in December, the ten were approved as new EU members from 2004. Denmark was in a serious foreign policy crisis during the autumn.

Following a bloody hostage drama staged by armed Chechens in Moscow, Russia demanded that the Danish government ban a planned exile Chechen congress in Copenhagen. However, the Congress was allowed, which resulted in President Vladimir Putin refusing to attend the EU summit in Copenhagen. The meeting must be moved to Brussels. At the request of Russia, the Danish police then arrested one of the congressmen, the Chechen politician Achmed Zakayev, who was accused of terrorism and of planning hostage violence in Moscow. Russia put pressure on Denmark to extradite Zakayev, but according to Danish authorities there was insufficient evidence against him, and Zakayev was released.

The controversial Tvind Movement leader Mogens Amdi Petersen was arrested in the US and extradited to Denmark in the fall. Petersen was charged with gross tax fraud and several of his employees were suspected of money laundering. Several tens of millions of SEK are believed to have disappeared from the aid organization, which had links to UFF (U-land assistance from Folk to Folk) in Sweden.

Former Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen resigned in November as party leader for the Social Democrats. Former Foreign Minister Mogens Lykketoft was elected as new party leader.

State of emergency in Copenhagen

On March 1, 2007, the police put Copenhagen in a state of emergency when it initiated the demolition of Ungdomshuset in Nørrebro. Copenhagen’s mayor Ritt Bjerregaard thus enrolled in a large number of social democratic mayors who did not understand the capital’s children and young people. In 1980, the then mayor, Egon Weidekamp, cleared the children’s building playground, the Builder at Nørrebro. In 2000, then-Mayor Jens Kramer Mikkelsen sold the youth’s house, Ungdomshuset on Jagtvej to a private person, who subsequently sold it to the fundamentalist and child abuse Christian sect “The Father Church”. Social Democratic Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard wanted there to be room for MTV and fundamentalists in Copenhagen, but not for the youth and therefore gave the green light to clear the Youth House.

In the absence of real terrorists in Denmark, the Danish terrorist corps got the youth to practice when on March 1 at. At 7 in the morning, the clearing commenced with a command attack on the house from helicopters. The demolition of the youth’s house caused great anger and frustration among the users of the house, and other Copenhageners who felt that there should be room for everyone. The police met the next day’s demonstrations with unprecedented violence, seconded by the government media, which described the demonstrators as thugs, abusers and rapists. The funds of the police and judges marked that Denmark had taken the step away from the rule of law several years earlier. Police used earlier arrests, but the difference this time was that hundreds were arbitrarily put in jail for 2-4 weeks. Police breached on several points The Constitution, and de-facto put Copenhagen in the state of emergency. Sections 79 and 80 of the Constitution guarantee freedom of assembly and demonstration. It was hacked by police who arbitrarily conducted mass arrests of protesters and random Copenhageners. Not just young people as claimed in the media, but everyone who could be captured. For example. also a 64-year-old orthopedic surgeon.

The police, with the help of the city court, put hundreds of Copenhageners and foreigners in jail – without judgment – and appeals to the High Court were upheld. But the police state did not stop here. As in other totalitarian states, it denied the right to habeas corpus: it denied relatives the right to information on imprisoned family members. Traveling foreign parents could therefore, among other things, not getting information on whether or where their children were imprisoned.

Police state storm troopers did not stop there. Section 72 of the Constitution establishes the inviolability of the home. That section allows the police to conduct house searches only after obtaining a court order and with the participation of the property owner, or independent witnesses. On the morning of March 3, police conducted coordinated house searches at 10 addresses in Copenhagen – or rather, committed extensive vandalism for doors not opened but broken down, and if the property owner happened to come across, he/she was arrested. Attorney General and President of the Political Association Bjørn Elmquist stated afterwards: “There is something called a judge guard, so if they actually wanted to get the court blessing, they could have got it. But they would not risk an annoying defense attorney making the judge doubt, and then they know that today it is completely risk-free for them not to leave ”. The morning’s search was followed by a new search of the youth organization Red Youth’s office at. 13.30. Again without a search warrant. The police state methods – the arbitrary searches, arbitrary detention without judgment and breach of habeas corpus – were then investigated by Amnesty International.

On March 5, the demolition of Ungdomshuset began. 100 years after the Social Democracy in the capital had the house erected as a workers’ assembly house, Social Democrat Ritt Bjerregaard let the house demolish to make way for a fundamentalist sect.

The arbitrary detention of the police was all upheld in the High Court, and many were therefore jailed for 6-10 weeks. Only when the arbitrary methods of the Copenhagen Gestapo came before the Supreme Court did the state legally begin to back down when the court rejected a number of the state’s confirmed custody. In June 2008, the Supreme Court issued an order declaring the detention of hundreds of persons for illegal and at the same time awarding them a compensation of more than DKK 1 million. The Copenhagen Police replied to the court that it would follow exactly the same procedure in a future similar situation.

The judicial postponement continued until 2010. A statement then showed that out of the 800 citizens the Copenhagen Police had arrested, only charges were brought against 112, and only 65 of them were convicted. 248 were taken into custody for 1-10 weeks, and of those 248 only 19 were subsequently convicted of doing something illegal. Statistics show that the Copenhagen Police have long since moved out of the law, and in the heat of the battle, both the City Court and the National Court followed suit. The number of dismissals in relation to cases brought is extraordinarily high, declared one of the defenders Jakob Arrevad to the Jutland Post, and continued: In the beginning there was something that resembled a legal madhouse, but with the court’s subsequent decisions, the order has been settled in the house.

However, the legal madhouse continued in 2010, when the Supreme Court sentenced activists to 9 and 10 months unconditional jail, simply because they had been in the house. They were among the group taken early in the morning in the basement of the Youth House as PET’s troopers stormed the house.

After the 2007 cleanup, activists conducted weekly Thursday demonstrations with the demand to get a youth home. After ½ years of demonstrations, it was estimated that the extensive police work, clean-up, etc. until then had cost the community over 200 million. Ritt Bjerregaard’s opposition did not have a financial basis, but was only politically motivated.

In early September, coordinated demonstrations were conducted with a total of 10-15,000 participants demanding a youth home for the youth in Copenhagen. The Copenhagen Police routinely gassed the demonstration in Copenhagen and arrested hundreds. But afterwards the police called on the politicians to find a political solution and negotiations were started between the Copenhagen youth and Ritt Bjerregaard.