First off I would like to apologize for not writing in my Blog lately (love how I refer to it like a journal). It has been a busy, blurry, changing time period this last month. So many things have occurred and it really has been a little difficult to catch up with people from home etc. I went from Midterms, right into my long study tour (packed 15 mins before leaving for airport), returned to Copenhagen for 1.5 days, traveled to Russia and now I am back to Copenhagen… to pack for another trip this week to Sweden and Norway in which I will give a separate update.
Anyways, let me give you a little background information on the Ungdomshuset issue. Ungdomshuset, meaning ‘youth house’ is a place that the city government gave to leftist protestor type students (i.e. communists, punks and anarchists) in an effort to provide a meeting place for these individuals to keep them off the street and out of trouble. Long story short, the city mayor decided to sell the property to a woman pastor who claims that god sent her a message to buy the house to oust these youth from the area. This purchase was done 9 YEARS AGO and she still has not been able to force these youth from the house. Finally a court order allowed the police to enter the house and arrest the imposters… it really was a dramatic scene one might expect from an action flick. Around 3 am in the morning the police sent in a helicopter full of police men, they jumped on the roof of the house to break in and occupy from the top down… WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT YOU ASK? Because the youth expected these at some point and made rock piles and brick piles on the roof to throw down at the police if they dared to enter the house. Anyways, they arrested everyone in there, news spread rapidly, and anarchists and other extreme type youth in and outside of Denmark came to riot in the city. They smashed glass, threw rocks at police, burned cars… the whole deal. It was pretty wild! I have a few friends who saw the whole situation because they live in the area. Some of the protestors even wore ninja like gear…. It was bizarre to say the least. Most of the protestors and riots were under 18 years of age and even some of the parents of the youth were arrested for neglecting their child and allowing them to do this. Finally about 5 days or so after the initial riot, they tore the house down. I’m indifferent on the situation because I have not lived here long enough to fully understand the situation… regardless, it was screwed up. HOW DID I GAIN PERSONALLY FROM THIS? I got a sweet poster from Copenhagen’s Politiken Newspaper that looks like a grave and indicates the years of life the house.
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