HomeHundreds of protestors who were arrested as a preventive measure by the Danish police at a rally in the capital have now been released. They were among thousands who marked the global day of action on climate change with a rally demanding “climate justice”.
Tens of thousands of protesters marched through the chilly Danish capital and at least 600 were detained on Saturday, in a mass rally to demand an ambitious global climate pact.
As they demonstrated, the talks were hitting a snag over rich nations’ demands on China and other emerging economies.
The mostly peaceful demonstrations in Copenhagen provided the centre piece of a day of global climate activism stretching from Europe to Asia.
Police assigned extra officers to watch protesters marching toward the suburban conference centre to demand that leaders act now to fight climate change.
Police estimated their numbers at 40-thousand, while organisers said as many as 100-thousand had joined the march from downtown Copenhagen.
Danish police spokesperson Flemming Steen Munch said the detentions were made after a group of protesters threw stones and fireworks at police.
“We have no other thing to do than to try to separate them from the huge demonstration,” he added.
Munch added that one police officer received minor injuries when he was hit by a rock thrown from the group and one protester was injured by fireworks.
At around 2100 GMT, approximately 300 demonstrators gathered outside the Retortvej prison in the Danish capital to demand release of those detained in the climate marches.
Riot police were also at the scene and charged at the demonstrators. One of the protesters was seen being dragged away by police. There have been a couple of minor protests over the past week, but Saturday’s was by far the largest.
Police said they detained between 600 and 700 people in a preventive action against a group of youth activists at the tail end of the demonstration.
Officers in riot gear moved in when some of the activists, masking their faces, threw cobblestones through the windows of the former stock exchange and Foreign Ministry buildings.
In the evening police vehicles were seen heading to Copenhagen port, where they were driven onto a DFDS Seaways cruise ship moored in the harbour.
Police authorities are known to have hired a cruise ship to house the extra officers drafted in to Copenhagen to police the climate conference and demonstrations.