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Today in Denmark: A round-up of the latest news on Tuesday

Find out what's going on in Denmark today with The Local's short round-up of the news in less than five minutes.

Today in Denmark: A round-up of the latest news on Tuesday
Social Democrats on the island of Ærø, famed for its sailors and ships, have launched a protest against their party's hardline policy over Syrians. Photo: David Leth Williams/Ritzau Scanpix

Russian engineer jailed for three years for spying in Denmark

A Danish court on Monday sentenced a Russian man to three years in prison followed by expulsion from Denmark with no possibility of return, after he was found guilty of espionage.

Aleksey Nikoforov, 36, was arrested in July 2020, but his case only came to light in December.

At the end of the closed trial, the Aalborg court said he had “gathered information over several years from the Technical University of Denmark and from a business in the northwest of the country, and transmitted this information to a Russian intelligence service in exchange for payment”.

Read our story here

Splits break out among Social Democrats over hardline Syria policies

The Social Democrat party group on the island of Ærø has published an open letter to Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen, Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod and Immigration Minister Mattias Tesfaye protesting the government’s hardline approach to Syria, raising the prospect that wide discontent within the party towards its surge to the right on immigration may be emerging into the open. 

In the letter, Carsten Hanson, the party’s local chairman described Syria’s leadership as a “lawless, untrustworthy, barbaric regime of terror”, and said that it was wrong to deprive those from the country of asylum protection in Denmark. The letter also called for Denmark to bring Danish citizens held in camps in Syria home together with their children. 

Since the letter was published on Facebook last week, several other local party groups have come forward to support the demands, including Gribskov Vest north of Copenhagen, and several local groups on the island of Funen. 

The Danish population reaches new record 

Denmark’s population grew by 3,302 in the first three months of this year, bringing it to a record of 5,843,347 people on April 1st, according to the latest figures from Statistics Denmark.

Over the last ten years, the Danish population has grown five percent to 279,128 people, but has also aged considerably. 

Today, there are 1,181,584 people in Denmark over the age of 64, 25 percent more than ten years ago, while there are 5 percent fewer people under the age of 20, a demographic shift which is likely to weigh on the country’s welfare state in future years. 

Danish People’s Party calls for Mohammed cartoons to go on curriculum 

The populist Danish People’s Party has called for making the furore around the publication of cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammed in 2005 part of the history and possibly also the Danish language curriculum, with the subject covered at primary school, secondary school and upper secondary school.

“It is terrible that we have a situation where a teacher does not dare to use the Muhammad drawings,” said the party’s legal spokesperson Peter Skaarup told DR. “That is why we need to tell our teachers that it is a duty – a requirement – such that there is no way to escape it. It is part of Danish history. It is part of our history, our constitution, that we stand firm on freedom of speech.”

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NEWS ROUNDUP

Today in Denmark: A round-up of the latest news on Monday

Find out what's going on in Denmark today with The Local's short roundup of the news in less than five minutes.

Today in Denmark: A round-up of the latest news on Monday
The centenary celebrations for the return of Northern Schleswigtook place at Kongeskansen, or the King's Hedge, the remains of the fortress the Prussians built after their victory in the second Schleswig War. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

Eriksen suffered ‘cardiac arrest’, Denmark team doctor confirms

Denmark’s team doctor said Sunday there was still “no explanation” for why midfielder Christian Eriksen collapsed during his country’s opening Euro 2020 game against Finland, but confirmed he had suffered a cardiac arrest.

“He was gone, and we did cardiac resuscitation,” team doctor Morten Bösen told a press conference. “How close were we? I don’t know. We got him back after one defib (defibrillation), so that’s quite fast,” Bösen added.

However, the physician also said they had yet to discover that cause of the 29-year-old’s heart attack.   

“There’s no explanation so far,” Bösen said, adding that all tests done so far on the player, who is still in hospital, have come back fine.

“That is also one of the reasons that he is still in the hospital,” the physician added. Read our story here

Denmark on Sunday celebrates 100th anniversary of return of South Jutland

Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II on Sunday made a speech in the south Jutland town of Frederikshøj to mark the centenary of the return of southern Jutland to Denmark. 

“We now leave the border to younger generations. Safe and confident that they can follow the development that their parents and grandparents began,” Margrethe said. 

After the defeat of Germany in World War I, the Allied powers organised two referenda in Northern and Central Schleswig, with Northern Schleswig voting 75 percent for reunification with Denmark, and then reuniting with Denmark on June 15th, 1920. 

The centennial celebration was scheduled for July 2020 but was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Number hospitalised and infected in Denmark falls despite reopening 

The number of people being treated in hospital for coronavirus has fallen to 98 people, down from 155 people at the start of the month. On Saturday the number hospitalised fell below 100 for the first time since last September. 

The number of new infections has also been falling, with 315 people testing positive in the 24 hours up to 2pm on Sunday, the lowest number since February 14th. 

Danish police wait for ‘boy racer’ to hand himself in 

The driver who hit speeds of up to 150km per hour as he fled police in Ishøj on the outskirts of Copenhagen on Sunday will eventually hand himself in, police predicted. 

“We know exactly who he is and we have been in telephone contact with him. He’s kind of gone into hiding, but he knows very well that he needs to approach us,” Mads Dam from the Copenhagen Police told Ritzau on Monday morning.

As well as driving at more than three times the speed limit in a residential area, the man also drove at times against the direction of the traffic, through red lights, across football pitches and down paths meant for pedestrians. 

The chase began after police approached him in a parking lot. 

Russian planes violate Danish airspace around Bornholm 

Two Russian planes on Friday violated Danish airspace by flying over the Baltic Sea and then over Bornholm, 

The Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets moved into the airspace near Christiansø, between 11.08am to 11.10am and 11.40am to 11.42am. 

“It is very rare that we see this type of violation of Danish airspace, so two on the same day can only be described as serious,” said Trine Bramsen, Denmark’s minister of defence.

“We are of course very concerned about how this could happen. Is this a navigational error or a deliberate provocation? Of course we will dig into that.”

Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod has summoned Russia’s ambassador to Denmark over the violation, and said he would also discuss it with his allies, particularly in the Nato alliance.

The planes were met by Danish F-16 aircraft, which followed the Russians during the entire second violation. Read our story here. 

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