Crews tear down Copenhagen youth center
By JAN M. OLSEN, Associated Press Writer 34 minutes ago
COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Demolition crews started tearing down a graffiti-sprayed brick building Monday, prompting tears and cries of protest from youths whose eviction from the makeshift cultural center led to three nights of rioting.
Workers wore face masks under their helmets to conceal their identities as an excavator tore into the so-called Youth House.
As dust from the demolition filled the air, angry youth yelled obscenities at police who had cordoned off the area around the building. Others hugged and cried.
Riot police kept a growing crowd away from the demolition site. Six people were arrested in the area for refusing to obey police orders, or trespassing, but no violence was reported.
"They are breaking my heart. I cannot stand it," said Birgitte, a black-clad 21-year-old woman with dreadlocks. She refused to give her last name, saying using one name was the norm among the people frequenting the building.
A police anti-terror squad evicted squatters from the building on Thursday, triggering three nights of clashes with youths that turned parts of the city into a battle zone.
More than 650 people, including scores of foreign activists, were arrested and at least 25 were injured as protesters hurled cobblestones at riot police and set fire to cars and trash bins in Copenhagen's worst riots in 14 years.
The Youth House served for years as a popular cultural center for anarchists, punk rockers and left-wing groups. The squatters considered it free public housing, but courts ordered them out after the city sold the building to a Christian congregation.
Ruth Evensen, leader of the small congregation that bought the Youth House in 2001, said the four-story structure had to be torn down because it was "a total wreck" and posed a fire hazard.
"It would cost us a fortune to have it fixed," she said, declining to reveal the congregation's plans for the site.
Local left-wing lawmakers and a construction workers union tried to halt the demolition, citing health hazards caused by dust containing carcinogenic asbestos, but a demolition company representative denied there was any danger.
Environmental officials visited the site and gave the green light for the work to continue.
Those arrested in the riots included more than 140 protesters from Sweden, Norway, Germany and the United States, police said.
They said 189 people were remanded in custody, while 26 were released. Others were still awaiting court hearings.
A demonstration was planned Monday afternoon outside Copenhagen jail, where many of the alleged rioters were being held. Organizers encouraged participants to make noise by banging drums, playing loud music and blowing whistles in a show of support for those in jail.
The riots were Denmark's worst since May 1993, when police fired into a crowd of rioters protesting the outcome of a
European Union referendum. Ten protesters were wounded.