Ali Parnian, the bakery owner who has seen his place of business ravaged by thugs for refusing to pay up to a protection racket, has seen an outpouring of support from the Danes.
Just days after it surfaced in the media that the 19-year-old was forced to give up running his business in the vulnerable Tingbjerg district of Copenhagen over repeated threats and damage to his establishment, Parnian’s luck turned for the better.
In a bid to help the young man, MP Mette Abildgaard (Konservative) had called out on social media for people across the nation to help Parnian by donating money to help him keep his business alive. The response has been overwhelming so far and close to 400,000 kroner has been raised at this point.
“Wow! 265,000 times thank you. That’s how high the figure has reached and Ali is so grateful,” Abildgaard wrote on Facebook yesterday when the figure was at 265,000 kroner.
“Now my max limit has been reached on my MobilePay so it’s no longer possible to support via MobilePay, but you can still support by donating to the account regnr. 5013 / accountnr. 1536604.”
READ MORE: Mamma Jane refused to pay
Done with Tingbjerg
Parnian, who immigrated to Denmark from Iran two years ago and opened his bakery/restaurant 18 months ago, had been accosted by thugs who demanded he pay 100,000 kroner in protection money.
When he refused, they threatened him at his home and smashed his business up a number of times. Still, he wouldn’t pay, but because the police showed little interest in finding/stopping the culprits, Parnian realised that his situation was untenable.
That was until his story ran in the media. Now, Parnian says he wants to open up a shop again … but not in Tingbjerg.
The police are investigating his case and looking into the number of similar cases in the embattled district.
In a similar case in 2012, a local bodega owner called ‘Mamma Jane’ ended up in the media spotlight for standing up to a similar racket in Nørrebro.
