City wants to build on former anarchist stronghold

Left-wing groups lost their gathering place in 2007. The city is now tentatively moving forward with a proposal to build youth housing on the site where it once stood

City politicians want to build affordable housing for young people on a contentious plot of land in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro district.

The plot on Jagtvej 69 used to be home to Ungdomshuset, a youth culture centre run by an anarchist and left-wing community that had squatted the building since 1982.

In 1999 the city council sold the building and it ended up in the hands of Faderhuset, a Christian sect. In 2007, Jagtvej 69 became one of Denmark's most famous addresses, when Faderhuset excercised its ownership rights to evict the residents. After a dramatic police action, that involved police commandos being inserted by helicopter, Faderhuset had the building condemned and torn down.

Riots and heartache
The series of events sparked some of the worst riots the city has seen in modern time and resulted in over 700 arrests.

Despite being given a new home on Dortheavej road, the future of Jagtvej 69 is an intensely sensitive subject for Copenhagen’s left-wing groups.

City politicians recognise the sensitivity of the issue, but Sisse Welling (Socialistisk Folkeparti) argued that the empty plot could now be used to address the city’s shortage of affordable housing for young people.

“It’s sad that the plot stands empty as a scar representing bad political decisions,” Welling told Jyllands-Posten. “This way we could give the plot back to the city’s youth.”

READ MORE: Five years after building falls, still nothing forgotten

Jonas Bjørn Jensen (Socialdemokraterne) agreed.

“We don’t want to upset people and it’s okay to say that not just anything should be built on the plot,” Jensen said. “But we can’t afford to let such an attractive plot stand empty. The only thing we can build without causing too much trouble are youth homes.”

The deputy mayor for integration and employment, Anna Mee Allerslev (Radikale), and the culture and recreation mayor, Pia Allerslev (Venstre), supported the idea of building youth housing at the address.

Copenhagen City Council would have to buy the land back off Holdingselskabet af 2010 Aps, which has owned the land since 2010.

TOP STORIES

  • Chinese wind turbine companies sign pact to end race-to-the-bottom price war

    Chinese wind turbine companies sign pact to end race-to-the-bottom price war

    China’s 12 leading wind turbine makers have signed a pact to end a domestic price war that has seen turbines sold at below cost price in a race to corner the market and which has compromised quality and earnings in the sector.

  • Watch Novo Nordisk’s billion-kroner musical TV ad for Wegovy

    Watch Novo Nordisk’s billion-kroner musical TV ad for Wegovy

    Novo Nordisk’s TV commercial for the slimming drug Wegovy has been shown roughly 32,000 times and reached 8.8 billion US viewers since June.

  • Retention is the new attraction

    Retention is the new attraction

    Many people every year choose to move to Denmark and Denmark in turn spends a lot of money to attract and retain this international talent. Are they staying though? If they leave, do they go home or elsewhere? Looking at raw figures, we can see that Denmark is gradually becoming more international but not everyone is staying. 

  • Defence Minister: Great international interest in Danish military technology

    Defence Minister: Great international interest in Danish military technology

    Denmark’s Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen attended the Association of the Unites States Army’s annual expo in Washington DC from 14 to 16 October, together with some 20 Danish leading defence companies, where he says Danish drone technology attracted significant attention.

  • Doctors request opioids in smaller packs as over-prescription wakes abuse concerns

    Doctors request opioids in smaller packs as over-prescription wakes abuse concerns

    Doctors, pharmacies and politicians have voiced concern that the pharmaceutical industry’s inability to supply opioid prescriptions in smaller packets, and the resulting over-prescription of addictive morphine pills, could spur levels of opioid abuse in Denmark.

  • Housing in Copenhagen – it runs in the family

    Housing in Copenhagen – it runs in the family

    Residents of cooperative housing associations in Copenhagen and in Frederiksberg distribute vacant housing to their own family members to a large extent. More than one in six residents have either parents, siblings, adult children or other close family living in the same cooperative housing association.

Connect club

Connect Club is your gateway to a vibrant programme of events and an international community in Denmark.

Sign up here

Career

  • Come and join us at Citizens Days!

    Come and join us at Citizens Days!

    On Friday 27 and Saturday 28 of September, The Copenhagen Post will be at International Citizen Days in Øksnehallen on Vesterbro, Copenhagen. Admission is free and thousands of internationals are expected to attend

  • Diversifying the Nordics: How a Nigerian economist became a beacon for inclusivity in Scandinavia

    Diversifying the Nordics: How a Nigerian economist became a beacon for inclusivity in Scandinavia

    Chisom Udeze, the founder of Diversify – a global organization that works at the intersection of inclusion, democracy, freedom, climate sustainability, justice, and belonging – shares how struggling to find a community in Norway motivated her to build a Nordic-wide professional network. We also hear from Dr. Poornima Luthra, Associate Professor at CBS, about how to address bias in the workplace.

  • Lolland Municipality launches support package for accompanying spouses

    Lolland Municipality launches support package for accompanying spouses

    Lolland Municipality, home to Denmark’s largest infrastructure project – the Fehmarnbelt tunnel connection to Germany – has launched a new jobseeker support package for the accompanying partners of international employees in the area. The job-to-partner package offers free tailored sessions on finding a job and starting a personal business.

Want to advertise your job with CPH Post?

Contact us

Jobs