Denmark – Roede Fane: Report on Anti-fascist Mobilization in the Streets of Copenhagen
We hereby share an unofficial translation of a report published by Roede Fane of Denmark on October 19.
October 17: An Anti-Fascist Day – A Beautiful Day
On Saturday, October 17, the fascist-leaning group “Det Danske Folk” [translators note: “The Danish People”] once again held a demonstration in the streets of Copenhagen. The demonstration, titled “For Just Remigration,” brought together an unholy alliance of neo-Nazis, Zionists, Iranian monarchists, Rasmus Paludan’s gang, and right-wing Parties from Christiansborg such as “The Citizens’ Party.” The organizers had drawn reactionary participants from all corners of the country onto the streets of Copenhagen, but the day was met with significant popular antifascist resistance. Roede Fane has received photos and videos, and has also gathered material for this report on some of the day’s events.
Around 12 p.m., the first participants in the remigration march had already shown up at Kongens Nytorv, even though the demonstration was not officially scheduled to begin until 2 p.m. The fascists had turned up carrying Dannebrog flags, large wooden crosses, and pagan symbols. Many participants were already quite drunk when they arrived, while others became so during the demonstration.
The fascists had rented a parade float equipped with loudspeakers, but before the demonstration, anti-fascists had sabotaged both the float – by puncturing its tires – and the sound system – by cutting the wires. When the fascists nevertheless attempted to deliver their speeches, they were drowned out by a spontaneous counter-demonstration consisting of hundreds of anti-fascists who used whistles, megaphones, and horns to drown out the fascists while shouting battle cries such as “Nazi pigs!” and “No fascists in our streets!” The spontaneous anti-fascist intervention sparked great fury among the participants in the fascists’ demonstration. There was already a large police presence at Kongens Nytorv, and when the anti-fascists arrived, the police hurried to improvise a blockade between the two demonstrations, which were only about 15 meters apart.
After spending some time giving speeches, the fascists’ demonstration marched toward Christiansborg. Along the planned route toward Christiansborg, hundreds of anti-fascists had formed a blockade at Højbro Plads to prevent the fascists from crossing Højbro. The police had seen this coming and had therefore rerouted the fascists’ demonstration so they could reach Christiansborg via Holmens Bro instead. The anti-fascists tried to reach the bridge in time to block the fascists’ passage, but the police had formed barricades and brought in police dogs. Consequently, with the police’s help, the fascists succeeded in crossing Holmens Bridge and reaching Christiansborg Palace Square. The anti-fascist demonstrators therefore tried instead to reach Christiansborg Palace Square to drown out the fascists’ speeches, but the police – just as on September 5 – were determined to allow the neo-Nazis to hold a peaceful demonstration and had closed off all entrances to the palace square. The police attempted to trap the anti-fascist demonstration using several pincer maneuvers, but the anti-fascists always managed to break out of the police cordons and even push the police back into a defensive position.
During and after the demonstration, both the Israeli flag and the flag of Danish imperialism – which had been seized as trophies – were burned.
In addition to the spontaneous, militant anti-fascist counter-demonstration, which had drawn nearly as many people as the “Danish People’s” demonstration, another, less militant anti-fascist demonstration had also been organized, attracting thousands of participants. The fascists were clearly outnumbered that day.
Some bourgeois media monopolies refer to “The Danish People” as a “right-wing grassroots movement.” But there is nothing grassroots about the demonstration or its organizers. Those behind the organization are Iranian Zionist monarchists who seek to restore the Shah’s bloody counterrevolutionary regime in Iran and who are known to receive support and expertise from intelligence agencies affiliated with, among others, Yankee imperialism. At the same time, the movement receives assistance and funding from various far-right Parties such as the “Citizens’ Party.” These people and their repugnant allies, such as Rasmus Paludan, have made a living out of being fascist provocateurs. They claim to represent a countercurrent to the status quo, but in reality, they spew the exact same rhetoric that Parties in the Danish Parliament – such as the Danish People’s Party (DF), the Liberal Party (Venstre), or the Citizens’ Party – are already spouting. It is precisely the reactionary shift of the bourgeois Danish State that, among other things, characterizes this rapidly growing racist and xenophobic rhetoric currently being spewed from Christiansborg. In reality, this rhetoric serves to defend the status quo by shifting the focus away from the actual cause of the deteriorating living conditions of the masses: namely, the decay of imperialism. Instead, they shift the blame onto the broadest and deepest masses, who have often been forced to flee the wars and conflicts that Danish imperialism itself has helped to create.The tendency toward fascism in Denmark is not driven by small fascist or neo-Nazi groups; it is occurring primarily through the mechanisms of the Danish bourgeois State itself, as the facade of democracy crumbles more and more. But the more reactionary policies the representatives of the ruling class spew out, and the more their ragged henchmen – represented in the “DDF” – creep forward, the more the popular resistance against fascism and imperialism will continue.
