Denmark – Røde Fane: Rebellion against Police Violence in Tingbjerg
Featured image: Car on fire in Tingbjerg. Source: Røde Fane
The revolutionary media Røde Fane of Denmark reports that on the 1st of August in Tingbjerg, Denmark, police shot and injured a man because he attempted to flee. Røde Fane reports that following the incident, the police, politicians and the press have defended the potentially lethal shooting, highlighting the need to unconditionally condemn the shooting and the attempts at shifting the blame onto the victim.
After the shooting, two nights followed, where cars, trash-containers and a community center was set on fire. Røde Fane writes that these actions clearly show the rage against the police’s violence and transgressions in Tingbjerg. So far, two have been detained and one has been arrested in connection to the fires. Røde Fane writes: “It is wrong to downplay the political nature of the arson attacks carried out in protest against the police, and to describe them as criminal ‘pranks’; these actions are clearly an expression of hatred toward the police, given the violence and harassment that many people regularly experience at their hands. These actions are entirely proportionate to the police’s disproportionate use of violence.”
Bourgeois press have uncritically reiterated several unfounded statements from the police, such as allegations that someone had thrown rocks after the fire brigade, an allegation no sources within the fire brigades have corroborated. They also claim that the shooting took place to prevent an attempted murder of one of the police officers, once again clearly refuted by several videos of the incident, Røde Fane reports.
Røde Fane raises the point that the people who call for reconciliation and peace regarding police violence “show a clear disregard for people’s rights by claiming that if you do not ‘follow the police’s instructions,’ it gives the police carte blanche to shoot as they please.”
The rebellion in Tingbjerg throws a wrench in the works for the political ambitions of which the “ghetto law” is a part, namely the goal of shifting the concentration of where the poorest masses live, so as to not have areas or neighborhoods with “rebellious potential”, and to instead shift the class character of said areas into “pretty bourgeois neighborhoods with ‘social harmony’,” Røde Fane reports.
Røde Fane concludes, stating “The shooting on August 1st is not an isolated incident; it is an escalation of the constant struggle that successive governments have waged against the people, particularly against working-class neighborhoods like Tingbjerg, where problems of poverty and crime are used as an excuse to evict people from their homes, constant police patrols and harassment, coordinated media campaigns against residents, and so on, all aimed at dividing the people and obscuring the class character of the State.
We must defend our democratic rights, support just uprisings against police violence, and fight against Danish imperialism’s use of violence against the people. Today it’s Tingbjerg where the police are shooting—where will they be shooting tomorrow?”
