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CRIME

Copenhagen police lift stop-and-search zone

Police in Copenhagen have announced that stop and search zones put in place following a spate of knife violence in the Danish capital will now be lifted, after no further incidents occurred in the last week.

Copenhagen police lift stop-and-search zone
Illustration file photo. Copenhagen Police have revoked a stop-and-search zone put in place in response to knife violence- Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

The stop and search zones (also called “visitation zones”), which were in effect in parts of the Nørrebro and Nordvest neighbourhoods, will not be continued and will expire on Thursday, police confirmed.

Recent weeks have not seen any further incidents, police stated, in reference to a spate of violence that flared in the area at the end of 2022.

When the zones are in effect, police within the zone can stop people and check their possessions without meeting the usual requirements to do so.

The stop-and-search zone was put in place on December 29th in response to five stabbings within a week in Copenhagen. It was extended on January 5th.

At the time, police said they believed several of the stabbings were between young men associated with criminal circles, but that there had been no sign of a conflict between established crime groups.

In Thursday’s tweet, police said that investigations into the incidents were “progressing”. No arrests have yet been made.

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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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