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CRIME

German killed in Danish stone-throwing ‘murder’

Police on the Danish island of Funen are treating a fatal stone-throwing incident as murder after a German tourist lost her life on a local motorway.

German killed in Danish stone-throwing ‘murder’
Police said that the sheer size of the stone leads them to believe that it may have been planned in advance. Photo: Fyns Politi
Funen Police said that a 30 kilo stone tile and a 9.5 kilo cobblestone were thrown from an overpass onto a moving vehicle early on Sunday morning. 
 
The car belonged to a German family that was returning from holiday. The female passenger was killed instantly while the driver of the vehicle, a 36-year-old man, was seriously injured. The couple’s five-year-old son, who was seated next to his mother in the back seat, escaped injury. 
 
A police spokesman told broadcaster DR that the case will be investigated as a murder and attempted murder. 
 
“When one takes such heavy tiles and throws them down on cars moving at such high speeds, it has to be with the thought that someone could die,” Commissioner Michael Lichtenstein said. 
 
Lichtenstein said that the sheer size of the tile leads police to believe that one or more adults were involved. 
 
“These stones are so heavy that they’re not something you’d just come strolling with under your arm. So this is perhaps something that was planned,” he told DR. 
 
Funen Police said that the German consulate has been called to Odense University Hospital to take care of the five-year-old child until family members arrive from Germany. Police said that they would not release more information on the German victims until family members have confirmed their identities. 
 
Police are asking anyone who might have leads in the case to call 114. 

CRIME

Why Copenhagen police say crime is on the up in Christiania

Crime in Copenhagen’s hippie enclave of Christiania is increasing, police in the capital say following a number of drugs-related arrests.

Why Copenhagen police say crime is on the up in Christiania

Copenhagen Police arrested three men on Saturday for selling cannabis on Pusher Street in the alternative enclave of Christiania, as they continue their efforts to stamp out the area’s former open-air cannabis market. 

According to police, 875 people were arrested for selling cannabis in the first 11 months of 2022, more than in any other year over the past four years. 

A possible explanation for the increase in arrests could be that the rewards for operating hash stands have receded, according to a police spokesperson.

“It is extremely unattractive to stand out there, and therefore a lot of new people come in who have no idea what it is all about. Many of them come from outside the catchment area, and some of them are peripherally associated with a criminal group,” Simon Hansen, head of a Copenhagen Police special unit, told newspaper Politiken.

“It’s a bit – in inverted commas – ‘easier’ for us to catch these people,” he said. 

Around half of the stalls in the street are linked to various gangs and biker gangs, such as Satudarah, Bandidos, Hells Angels and Loyal To Familia, with the rest run by people living in Christiania, the Berlingske newspaper reported earlier this month.

The trend of rising crime occurs against a background of potential housing develop in Christiania, as the enclave’s residents decide on a plan to put affordable housing in the area.

Copenhagen Police last year told news wire Ritzau that the majority of people who are arrested within Christiania come from socially underprivileged or marginalised backgrounds.

They are exploited in gang and biker circles, resulting in them in some cases operating the illicit hash market stalls, according to the police.

Conflicts between organised crime groups have reportedly become more frequently aired in the Pusher Street market.

READ ALSO: Denmark’s ‘freetown’ Christiania hangs onto soul, 50 years on

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