Modpress

Sendt som læserbrev til The Guardian i anledning af de artikler, der henvises til i brevet:

On November 23, the Danish Ambassador to Britain declared (“We’ll protect protest in Copenhagen“) that the Danish government has no intention to ban or suppress peaceful protest and the new “anti-riot” legislation introduced for the climate conference in Copenhagen will only target violent protesters.

While the Ambassador obviously has to defend the government he is representing, his remarks are disingenuous.

The new law will (as reported on November 26, “Denmark approves new police powers ahead of Copenhagen“) impose a mandatory minimum sentence of 40 days in prison for anyone charged with “obstructing police work”.

It will also impose a minimum fine of about £500 for anyone charged with “disorderly conduct” or for not leaving immediately after a demonstration has been broken up.

These regulations effectively criminalise a wide variety of peaceful protest and anyone participating in a demonstration. In Denmark, all kinds of peaceful civil disobedience are now punishable with 40 days of prison – and this is only the last of a long list of totalitarian and xenophobic measures which are seriously undermining democracy and freedom in Denmark.

Visiting activists are likely to learn about this the hard way when they are imprisoned or fined for peaceful dissent which should be legal in any civilised country.

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