Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

CRIME

Copenhagen police extend stop-and-search zones amid ongoing gang conflict

The stop-and- search zones put in place in Christania and parts of Nørrebro and Nordvest in Copenhagen have been extended, Copenhagen Police said on Monday.

Published: 25 September 2023 14:57 CEST

Danish police officer

Copenhagen Police are to extend stop-and-search zones into October. Illustration photo: Niels Christian Vilmann/Ritzau Scanpix

The stop-and-search ordinance has been extended in an effort to prevent further incidents in an ongoing conflict between the Hells Angels and Loyal to Familia crime gangs, police said in a press statement.

The ordinances will now be in place until at least 6pm on October 9th.

Additionally, a ban on the use of three Hells Angels clubhouses in the Copenhagen area has been extended. Police previously justified their closure by saying it prevents them from becoming a target for gang reprisals.

Since the zones were first put in place, police have searched around 650 persons and have found or confiscated 28 knives or other sharp weapons, issuing 20 charges related to illegal possession of weapons.

READ ALSO: Denmark to double drug penalties and close market in capital’s ‘Pusher Street’

The zones, which allow police to search individuals for weapons without any prior justification, are occasionally used in response to escalating gang violence.

An ongoing conflict between the gangs was connected to the fatal shooting last month of a 30-year-old gang member in Christiania.

“Members of the public in the affected areas and in the rest of the district should feel safe and secure. That is why we are continuing our efforts,” senior officer Søren Tomassen of Copenhagen Police said in the statement.

“With three closed clubhoiuses and two stop-and-search zones – where we are very visibly present – we are putting a marked pressure on the involved groups, because we eill not accept the violent incidents emanating from these circles,” he said.

The zones have been in place since August 28th and had been set to expire on September 26th.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

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.

Url copied to clipboard!