PROTEST AGAINST COVID-19 LAW, ‘CORONA PASSPORT’ PLAN DRAWS HUNDREDS IN DENMARK

Sun 28 March 2021:

Hundreds gathered in central Copenhagen on Saturday to protest against a controversial virus law and Denmark’s plan to create so-called “corona passports.”

Marching through the streets, the crowd of mostly younger people, lit fireworks during a march which an AFP correspondent at the scene described as mostly peaceful.

Police told the Ekstrabladet newspaper that some 600 people had gathered and one person was arrested for throwing firecrackers towards police officers.

Organized by Danish anti-restriction group “Men in Black,” the main issue for the protesters was a new provision to the penal code that calls for a doubled sentence for a crime that “has a background in or is connected to the COVID-19 epidemic.”

The first severe application of that law happened in mid-March, when a Danish court convicted a 30-year-old woman for statements and actions that contributed to a “gross disturbance of public order as well as the use of violence against police,” at a January protest — organized by the same group.

Her one-year prison sentence was converted to two years. The Saturday march stopped outside the prison where she is being held, with cries of “Free Nanna” outside the building which was heavily guarded by police vans.

The demonstrators, most dressed in all black, shouted “Freedom for Denmark” and “Mette Ciao” – a reference to Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen — as they made their way to a square in front of Copenhagen’s city hall.

-AFP | Photo: Men in Black group members holding red flares and a banner demonstrate against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions, in Copenhagen, Denmark March 13, 2021. EHA news