Ungdomshuset: What Happens in Denmark Doesn't Stay In Denmark
2007-03-04
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
--Marcellus in Shakespeare's Hamlet
Ungdomshuset
Unique is a building where the footsteps of Lenin and
Bjork have passed. Yet so goes the history of
Ungdomshuset built in 1897 as a theater and center for the
labor movement in Denmark.
Johan Olsen from Magtens Korridorer joined fellow Danish
singers Anisette, Natasja and the band Ooh
Sticky when they recorded the song Ungdomshuset
Blir! by København musician Anne Eltard.
Automobiles Burn
After 25 years as a youth house and alternative cultural
center, the eviction of squatter residents from Ungdomshuset by
police sparked street rage not seen in the likes of peaceful
Denmark in many a year. Eyewitness pedestrian video and camera
phone shots of the rioting on YouTube captured the destruction
of property by protestors and charges by police vehicles. One
professional video clip by CBS News, which recently had all its
video removed from YouTube, ironically was preceded by an
automobile insurance commercial on its website.
Stephen Hand
ponders the violence in Denmark:
As I was reading about the present Copenhagen riots my mind drifted back to the riots of the 60's---especially and ironically after the death of Martin Luther King. Whole cities were in turmoil, many parts of each in flames.



