Danish police arrest nearly 1,000 protesters at climate conference

An estimated 100,000 demonstrators marched through the centre of Copenhagen to protest the failure of delegates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to arrive at any binding agreement on global warming. The march, dominated by youthful protesters, was the central event in a “Day of Action” that included rallies and demonstrations in countries around the world.

Despite the peaceful character of the demonstration, units of Danish riot police employed so-called “kettling” tactics, whereby heavily armed special squads move in to isolate particular sections of large demonstrations. As the march approached the conference centre, riot police cordoned off a large group of demonstrators at the rear. Nearly 1,000 were detained, cuffed and forced to sit for hours in long lines on the freezing street of Amagerbrogade, one of the city’s major shopping venues.

Video clips posted on YouTube showed scores of police descending on protesters, handcuffing them and forcing them to sit down on the street. Other clips showed police with dogs patrolling the lines of detained demonstrators. One 21-year-old Danish student, Leah, told the AAP news agency that trouble began on the march when the police commenced their “kettling” tactics. As riot police moved in, demonstrators began to panic and the police then arrested up to 400 people.

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