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Danish banks in dilemma over closure of ATMs in capital’s Christianshavn

Danish banks have been forced to decide whether to close their ATMs in Copenhagen neighbourhood Christianshavn, which neighbours the Christiania enclave which has recently seen violence connected to illegal drug trade in the area.

Published: 12 September 2023 13:10 CEST
Danish banks in dilemma over closure of ATMs in capital’s Christianshavn
Danish banks must consider whether to close their ATMs on Christianshavn Square near Christiania. File photo: Mathias Eis/Ritzau Scanpix

Danske Bank, Denmark’s largest, told news wire Ritzau it was yet to make a decision over its machines, while Nordea will close down ATMs in the area byt the end of this week.

“We naturally listen to the authorities and are prepared to go into a dialogue with them about what we can do with our ATMs on Christianshavn Square,” Danske Bank told news wire Ritzau in a written comment.

Danske Bank has two ATMs on the square, which is located around 800 metres (half a mile) from Christiania.

The issue is at the fore after a flare-up of violence and shootings around the Pusher Street market in Christiania, an autonomous “freetown” community for people devoted to a libertarian lifestyle, where decisions are taken collectively.

While soft drugs such as marijuana and hash are officially illegal, they are sometimes tolerated in Christiania, but the increasing presence of organised crime groups has resulted in violence and shootings.

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Queues can often be observed at cash points in the area around Christiania, and are likely to be used to finance purchases of cannabis in the enclave.

“It is not a simple decision because a lot of residents in the area, including elderly people, still need to withdraw cash. But we will make an announcement when we have taken the decision,” Danske Bank said.

No timeline was given for any final decision on the matter.

Nordea decided to close its two ATMs in Christianshavn following dialogue with police, it said. The reason given for the closure was to fight economic crime in Christiania.

“We take the fight against economic crime very seriously and we are fully aware of the negative role cash has in criminal circles,” Nordea Denmark’s director for private customers Mads Skovlund told media Finanswatch last week.

The Nordea closures are expected to take effect this week.

A 30-year-old gang member was killed in a gang-related shooting in Christiania at the end of last month.

Christiania’s residents association stated after the most recent shooting that they want Pusher Street to be closed down for good and Copenhagen Police on Monday announced bans on gatherings at three locations across the city linked to the Hells Angels biker gang.

That came after an explosion at a Hells Angels clubhouse on Saturday that police said was a sign of escalating violence between gangs. The ban on the clubhouses is intended to remove them as targets for rival groups, police said.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Where Malmö plans to place its first three Copenhagen Metro stops

Politicians in the Swedish city of Malmö have decided where the first three stops will be if a new Öresund Metro is built, linking the city to the Danish capital - and they are planning on using the earth excavated to build a whole new city district.

Published: 24 April 2024 15:56 CEST
Updated: 27 April 2024 15:06 CEST
Where Malmö plans to place its first three Copenhagen Metro stops

Malmö and Copenhagen have been pushing for an Öresund Metro linking the two cities since at least 2011, but so far neither the Swedish government nor the Danish one have committed to stumping up their share of the roughly 30 billion Danish kroner (47 billion Swedish kronor, €4 billion) required.

Malmö hopes the Swedish government will take a decision on the project this autumn, and in preparation, the city’s planning board last Thursday took a decision on where the first three stops of the Öresund Metro should be placed.

They have selected Fullriggaren (currently a bus stop at the outermost tip of the city’s Västra Hamnen district), Stora Varvsgatan, in the centre of Västra Hamnen, and Malmö’s Central Station, as the locations of the first three stops, after which the idea is to extend the metro into the city. 

Stefana Hoti, the Green Party councillor who chairs the planning committee, said that the new Fehmarn Belt connection between the Danish island of Lolland and Germany, which is expected to come into use in 2029, will increase the number of freight trains travelling through Copenhagen into Sweden making it necessary to build a new route for passengers.

Part of the cost, she said, could come from tolls levied on car and rail traffic over the existing Öresund Bridge, which will soon no longer need to be used to pay off loans taken to build the bridge more than 20 years ago.  

“The bridge will be paid off in the near future. Then the tolls can be used to finance infrastructure that strengthens the entire country and creates space for more freight trains on the bridge,” Hoti told the Sydsvenskan newspaper.

According to planning documents given out by the city planning authorities, the stop at Fullrigagaren would be called Galeonen and would be roughly, the one at Stora Varvsgatan will be called Masttorget, and the third stop would be called Malmö Central.  

Source: Malmö Kommun

After Fullriggaren the next stop would be at Lergravsparken in the Amagerbro neighbourhood, which connects with the current M2 line, after which the there will be four new stops on the way to Copenhagen Central, including DR Byen on the current M1 line. 

The hope is that the Öresund Metro will reduce the journey time between Copenhagen Central and Malmö Central from 40 minutes to 25 minutes. 

Source: Oresunds Metro

But that’s not all. Excavating a tunnel between Malmö and Copenhagen will produce large amounts of earth, which the architect firm Arkitema has proposed should be used to extend Malmö’s Västra Hamnen district out into the sea, creating a new coastal district called Galeonen, meaning “The Galleon”, centred on the Fullriggaren Metro stop. 

This project is similar to the Lynetteholm project in Copenhagen, which will use earth excavated for the Copenhagen Metro extension to build a peninsular in front of Copenhagen Harbour, providing housing and protecting the city from rising sea levels. 

Rather than producing a sea wall to protect the new area from rising sea levels, Arkitema and its partner, the Danish engineering firm COWI, have proposed a new coastal wetland area. 

“Instead of building a wall, we extended the land out into the sea. Then a green area is formed which is allowed to flood, and over time it will become a valuable environment, partly as a green area for Malmö residents, partly because of the rich biodiversity that will be created there,” Johanna Wadhstorp, an architect for Arkitema based in Stockholm, told the Sydsvenskan newspaper. 
 
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