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CRIME

Nørrebro residents ‘living in fear’ after one killed, two wounded in shooting

People living in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro district fear an escalation in gang shootings after the latest incident on Tuesday resulted in a fatality.

Nørrebro residents 'living in fear' after one killed, two wounded in shooting
Photo: Jens Dresling/Polfoto/Ritzau

The troubled neighbourhood’s streets were again illuminated by blue flashing lights on Tuesday evening.

Police responded to an emergency report at 7:16pm from a person who had heard shots.

On arriving at the scene of the shooting on the Tagensvej road, police found three people who had been hit by shots.

One of the victims was dead by the time police arrived.

The episode has sparked fear amongst local residents that a further escalation of the ongoing gang conflict will follow the fatal shooting, according to Terje Bech, a Nørrebro resident and organiser of a demonstration against the violence.

“What we are seeing now looks like the beginning of an escalation. Where there were more diffuse shootings at the start of the summer, it seems to be a lot more targeted now, where they are shooting to kill,” Bech said.

The community organiser said he feared the violence could now spiral, leading to more deaths.

“We are obviously also concerned that when one side does this to the other side, it almost screams out for revenge,” he said.

Bech said that he was calling for Nørrebro residents to meet at 5pm on Wednesday at Tagensvej 135, close to the location of Tuesday’s incident, in a show of solidarity.

Though he does not believe the demonstration will prevent further shootings, he believes it can offer a form of support for local people who have witnessed the shootings.

“It is important that Nørrebro stands with the residents who are living with danger just outside their door.

“We have to turn out and show that we won’t accept it, and to provide the opportunity to talk about what happened. We want calm and safety back in our streets,” he said.

READ ALSO: Two receive light injuries in 'gang-related' Copenhagen shooting

CRIME

Danish government backs removing children from gang-connected families

Denmark’s government wants authorities to be able to move children out of families in which parents are gang members and is likely to formalise the measure in parliament.

Danish government backs removing children from gang-connected families

The justice spokesperson with senior coalition partner the Social Democrats, Bjørn Brandenborg, told regional media TV2 Fyn that he wants authorities to have the power to remove children from their families in certain circumstances where the parents are gang members.

Brandenborg’s comments came on Monday, after Odense Municipality said it had spent 226 million kroner since 2009 on social services for eight specific families with gang connections.

“There is simply a need for us to give the authorities full backing and power to forcibly remove children early so we break the food chain and the children don’t become part of gang circles,” he said.

The measure will be voted on in parliament “within a few weeks”, he said.

An earlier agreement on anti-gang crime measures, which was announced by the government last November, includes provisions for measures of this nature, Brandenborg later confirmed to newswire Ritzau.

“Information [confirming] that close family members of a child or young person have been convicted for gang crime must be included as a significant and element in the municipality’s assessment” of whether an intervention is justified, the agreement states according to Ritzau.

The relevant part of November’s political agreement is expected to be voted on in parliament this month.

READ ALSO: Denmark cracks down on gang crime with extensive new agreement

Last year, Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told political media Altinget that family relations to a gang member could be a parameter used by authorities when assessing whether a child should be forcibly removed from parents.

In the May 2023 interview, Hummelgaard called the measure a “hard and far-reaching measure”.

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