Battle of Ryesgade - Background

Background

Throughout the 1980s, the Copenhagen city council and property owners came into conflict, both violent and ideological, with squatters. At this time, the squatters in Denmark had organized into an active and well-funded movement with left-wing overtones. It started in Copenhagen, where a group of young people began to take over empty buildings, using them for free housing and as alternative cultural and community centers. The youngsters were made up of a mixture of punks, left-wing activists, and unemployed teenagers, mostly from the working-class area of Nørrebro.

The economic situation in Denmark was one of high unemployment and poor housing, especially in Copenhagen. In the 1970s, the Copenhagen City Council, led by a social democratic mayor, Egon Weidekamp, had begun a process of rehousing for people living in the poor areas of Copenhagen. The process involved the demolition of large parts of the old boroughs surrounding the city center. Although the intent was to raise the standard of living for working-class people, the consequence was that the new houses often became too expensive for those very people to live in. Many found themselves temporarily relocated to elsewhere in the city, and when they wanted to return to their old homes, they found the rent to be too high for them to pay. This gave rise to a growing anger towards the city council and a feeling amongst the poor people of Copenhagen that decisions concerning their lives were being made without them having anything to say about it. The city's plans also left many old and worn, but still useful, buildings empty. At the same time, a lot of young people were unemployed and without homes. All these factors opened the door to widespread squatting.