Danish police used batons and pepper spray to break up an anti-fascist protest outside the meeting of a centrist party youth movement which had invited a holocaust denier as guest speaker.
There was a confrontation between officers and around 100 activist when Venstres Ungdom (VU), the country’s largest opposition party, invited Daniel Carlsen to speak at its headquarters in Copenhagen.
Protesters tried to block Carlsen’s entry to the building but were beaten back by police with batons and pepper spray. Reports suggest that at least two activists and one police officer were injured in the scuffle.
“We showed that there are many who believe that it’s fundamentally wrong that Venstres Ungdom validates Nazis by inviting them to meetings,” one demonstrator, Steffen Sørensen, told left-wing news portal Modkraft.
Although Venstre translates as “the Left” in English, the party has taken a swing to the right under current leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen. Although in opposition, it is nevertheless Denmark’s biggest single political party, and is relatively centrist; not of the far-right.
Daniel Carlsen has expressed sympathy for Adolf Hitler and argues that the commonly-accepted version of WWII history is communist propaganda. The 21-year-old is the leader of Danskernes Parti, a far-right organisation.
[…] Danish police use force against anti-fascist demonstrators […]