Yesterday Denmark deported 22 Iraqis, a number of whom had been among the 19 asylum seekers arrested during the violent eviction of Brorson's Church in Copenhagen on 13 August. Eighty migrants, which included a number of families with children, had sought shelter in the church in May after having their asylum applications refused, some had already been deported by the time of the eviction and it is and it is understood that the remaining women and children were able to escape during the confusion on the raid.
The early morning eviction had apparently been negotiated with church authorities and the police had promised the raid would be peaceful. The police however trashed the church's interior and their violent tactics spilled out on to the street where over 300 protesters, many from the migrants support group Kirkeasyl, were beaten, peppersprayed and arrested during a sitdown blockade to try and prevent the bus containing the migrants leaving. Running battles between the police and protesters also continued for a number of hours afterwards. [Video]
Denmark has some of Europe's most repressive immigration laws, all introduced since the 2001 election of the right-wing coalition led by Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Liberal Party won control by pledging to reduce immigration (under the slogan "refugees must not become immigrants") and lower taxes. One member of the coalition is the ultranationalist Dansk Folkeparti (DPP), the country's third-largest party with 12% of the vote and 22 seats under Denmark's partial PR system. As a key member of the centre-right government coalition, it has drafted tough new asylum policies and cut aid to the developing world and in the 2007 elections it increased its share of the vote to 13.8% and now has 25 MPs.
New immigration laws introduced in 2002 severely restricted the right to asylum [1] and, amongst others issues, the right of entry of foreign spouses. As a result the number of migrants allowed into Denmark under family reunification procedures decreased 70% between 2001 and 2006 to 4,198. During the same period the number of asylum permits granted decreased [8,739] by 82.5% to 1,095 and the recognition rate fell from 53% to 18%. [2] Also introduced were reductions in public benefits [3] designed to create 'incentives' for immigrants to 'integrate' and join the Danish workforce were also introduced.[4] Settled migrants have to sign a contract which stipulates that they must do to get a job or learn the Danish language. If they fail to do so, they will have their benefit reduced.
As a consequence of the dramatic drop-off of the numbers of asylum seekers reaching Denmark, it has been able to close nearly 50 of its detention centres since 2002. Yet at the same time it introduced legislation such as the new Aliens Act which allow the indefinite detention of 'failed' asylum seekers [5]. As a result, in 2007 it was estimated that 40 % of all asylum-seekers were being held for more than three years in reception centres after receiving their final refusal of a residence permit. A visit by MEPs to the Sandholm detention centre in 2008 found detainees who had been there for more than eight years, unable to work or take part in life in the surrounding community. Such lengths of detention are having severe effects on the detainees mental health, particularly amongst the children.
It is not just the government's attitude to potential asylum seekers that is fermenting social division. The DPP is vehemently anti-Islamic and has stage a number of stunts that have added fire to an already bubbling cauldron of social resentment. In May 2008 the PP forced through legislation that saw the wearing of headscarves in Danish courts banned. In 2005 the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten published controversial cartoons of the prophet Mohammed and the following year members of the DPP youth wing followed suit in a widely distributed film of a summer camp Mohammed cartoon competition that also provoked worldwide protests.
This anti-Islamic and general anti-immigrant sentiment is now widespread in Danish society. It is common practice in Copenhagen of police searching people on grounds of race and, in February this year, a 65-year-old male immigrant was severely beaten by police during a car search. A number of children, all younger than thirteen, who tried to help the victim were also brutalised. This provoked seven consecutive nights of rioting in largely Muslim neighborhoods of Denmark's largest cities including Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense.
A number of major newspaper also exacerbated the situation by reprinting the notorious Mohammed cartoons. This then allowed them the luxury of blaming the riots on fundamentalist Muslims. The real reasons however were outlined by a group calling itself "Drengene fra indre Nørrebro" (the boys from inner Nørrebro), who sent a letter to a national newspaper saying that the riots had been about discrimination and harassment by police to immigrants on the urban estates.
[1] The so-called ‘de facto status’, which covers asylum seekers who are not protected by the Geneva Convention, was changed to ‘B-status’, severely restricting the chance of achieving protection status for people fleeing from war and refugees and having a severe subjective fear of returning to their country. [See: Amnesty International report]
[2] Applications fell from 12,512 in 2001 to 1,960 in 2006. In 2008, 1453 asylum applications were granted and the figures for new applications was 2410, with a recognition rate of 50%. [Official statistics]
[3] People who have not resided permanently in Denmark for at least seven of the last eight years and haven’t worked for at least 2 ½ years, are not entitled to claim regular social welfare benefits. Instead they are restricted to the so-called “starting allowance”.
[4] The measure however appear to be failing, with Denmark being ranked the second-worst performer out of 28 mostly EU countries for migrant eligibility to enter the labour market in the 2007 Migrant Integration Policy Index. On the same index it was ranked the fourth-worst for family reunion.
[5] Anti-terrorist legislation means that non-Danish citizens who are considered to be a threat towards the Danish national security can either be expelled or allowed leave to remain in Denmark on a so-called ‘tolerated stay’. There is no legal right to know on what grounds it has been decided that they can safely be removed to the country to which they are to be expelled or to challenge the decision.
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