a blog by Peter Leonard
Long Live the Youth House, January 2007
I've been posting a lot of Copenhagen photographs recently, but there have been none of the most dramatic developments here in nearly a decade: the riots for the past three nights over the clearing of the Undgomshus (Youth House) in Nørrebro. Wikipedia actually has a pretty good English-language article on the history of the building. The reason for the lack of pictures here is my decision to stay well out of Nørrebro until things calm down. Which is a shame -- I had been doing most of my grocery shopping there at the smaller ethnic stores. Despite being run by Iraqis, they have really great selections of Indian spices and curries, something my circle of friends have been cooking a lot of.
(Mostly me, actually, which is pretty strange: I've never cooked so much in my life, for so many other people, as I have here.) Anyway, in addition to the great range of Chinese, Thai and Indian foods, these stores are open really late, even on Sunday, and are very cheap compared to mainstream stores. (An anonymous commentator: "They've declared Jihad on high prices!")
These small, independent stores are no doubt bearing the brunt of the unrest, especially since Nørrebrogade has seen a near constant fight between rock-throwing syndicalists and teargas-discharging police, not to mention cars and dumpsters set on fire, for the past few days -- if they haven't been damaged, then their customers have most certainly disappeared. Nørrebro is the part of the inner city with the strongest immigrant identity, which may have made a pleasingly bohemian backdrop for the young anarchists and utopianists who made up the Youth House's hardcore center, but now is cause for unfortunate unintended results as the radicals' street fight with the police has profoundly negative consequences for one of the city's most diverse and working-class quarters.