Copenhagen Youths Riot Over Plan to Tear Down Culture Center

March 1 (Bloomberg) -- Hundreds of youths in Copenhagen disrupted traffic with roadblocks and bonfires and clashed with police to protest the planned demolition of a culture center. Copenhagen Youths Riot Over Plan to Tear Down Culture Center

By Christian Wienberg

March 1 (Bloomberg) -- Hundreds of youths in Copenhagen disrupted traffic with roadblocks and bonfires and clashed with police to protest the planned demolition of a culture center.

The Danish capital's police made at least 80 arrests while clearing squatters from the center that's known as Ungdomshuset. The operation began at 7 a.m. local time and involved the use of a helicopter to land riot-squad officers on the roof, police spokesman Flemming Steen Munch said in a telephone interview. One protester received injuries requiring hospitalization, he said.

Youths have used the center in the Noerrebro district since the city turned it over to squatters in 1982. In 2000, the city sold the center, a forum for alternative music and art, to a Christian group that plans to tear it down and build a church. Patrons lost suits in which they claimed ownership of the building, and held protests in an effort to block the plan. Protesters have barricaded the center since early December.

``I advise the young people to remain calm and not to become too aggressive,'' Justice Minister Lene Espersen said in an interview with the broadcaster TV2.

Traffic remained disrupted by early afternoon in the city, as hundreds of youths continued to protest in the streets, Munch said. Police controlled the interior of the building, he said.

Among those under arrest are youths who punched police officers and threw rocks, as well as those who refused to leave the center when police stormed it, Munch said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen cwienberg@bloomberg.net .
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