Copenhagen saw a third straight night of unrest overnight Saturday as small groups of protesters threw rocks at police and set fire to trash bins and barricades, but the clashes did not come close to the violent rioting on the two previous nights.
Police patrolled the streets in large numbers throughout the night, and said more than 50 people had been arrested as scuffles were reported in different parts of the city early yesterday after a day of relative calm. More than 30 people were arrested near the Christiania hippie enclave after protesters built barricades on a major street and set them on fire around 3am, police said in a statement.
Smaller fires were also being set in other parts of the capital, but were quickly put out by firefighters and police. At least one car was also set ablaze, police said.
But the incidents did not cause the same level of clashes between riot police and leftist youths that turned parts of the city into a battle zone for two consecutive nights, giving police hope that the wave of demonstrations was dying down.
"We really hope so. It seems it will be very quiet today," police spokesman Lars Borg said.
"We are very happy that the situation was so quiet. The people who want to demonstrate have been more ... aware that the things they are doing are not the right things to do," he said.
More than 600 people, including 140 foreigners, have been arrested in riots that started on Thursday after an anti-terror squad evicted squatters from a disputed youth center in the Noerrebro District.
On Saturday afternoon, 3,000 demonstrators marched peacefully toward the four-story building that for years has served as a popular cultural center for anarchists, punk rockers and left-wing groups.
Later on Saturday and into early yesterday, hundreds of officers in riot gear patrolled the area near the building. There were isolated reports of small bands of protesters pelting officers with firecrackers and rocks. Police also said some protesters were pulling trash bins into the street, and in some cases setting them on fire.
The protesters see their fight to keep the "Youth House," a four-story building used by young squatters since the 1980s, as symbolic of a wider struggle against a capitalist establishment.
As news of the riots spread, sympathizers all around Europe rallied support for the protesters, and youths from neighboring countries have flocked to Copenhagen in recent days to participate in the rallies. Sympathy protests were also held in Germany, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
The clashes were Denmark's worst since May 18, 1993, when police fired into a crowd of rioters protesting the outcome of a EU referendum. Ten of the protesters were wounded.
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