Denmark: Bikers war results results in sinister legislation
01 November 1996
In recent years conflict between rival biker groups, the Hell's Angels and the Bandidos, has become increasingly violent, recalling the "war" between the Angels and the Bullshits in the 1980s. The Hell's Angels have been in Denmark since 1985, while the Bandidos arrived more recently, in 1993. There have been at least thirteen violent clashes between the groups involving sophisticated weapons, including guns, hand grenades, bombs and armour-piercing shells. Nearly 200 illegal weapons have been confiscated in police raids and four Bandidos and one member of the Hell's Angels have been killed. This has resulted in intensified police surveillance and harassment of anyone who resembled a biker and stimulated heated debate about an expansion of police powers to include the use of anonymous witnesses and civilian agents.
It has been suggested that biker organisations could be banned under Paragraph 78.1 of the Danish constitution, which states that organisations that aim to achieve their goals through violence or crime can be dissolved. This Paragraph has not been used since the German occupation in 1941 when the Danish Communist Party was prohibited. However, it has proved impossible to prove that either the Hell's Angels or the Bandidos have crime as an organisational goal as highly placed police officials, such as Chief Inspector Per Larsen, have acknowledged. Even the Justice Minister recognises that there is a problem regarding which groups should be banned, particularly since the courts have ruled that biker clubs do not have a legal status as an organisation.
The legal debate received added impetus following a serious attack on the Hell's Angels headquarters in Copenhagen in October in which two people, one Hell's Angel and a "guest", were killed. Eighteen people were also injured by an armour-piercing shell used in the attack. Five days later, on October 10, parliament passed a law - commonly known as the "Rocker-law" - banning residence in certain buildings. It permits the police to ban people involved in armed conflict to meet in a building if it is likely to endanger a neighbour. Offenders can receive up to two years imprisonment. Within days the police began to empty the biker's clubhouses only to find most of them deserted.
Critics have pointed to problems in the "Rocker-law", not least defining who is and who is not allowed to enter a specific building. Does it only apply to members of biker groups or to any person who looks like a biker? Does the law apply only to the Hell's Angels and Bandidos or to other biker organisations? The law is poorly drafted and has raised concerns that individuals will be prohibited from entering clubs or premises on the authority of the police and without legal redress. Another repercussion of the legislation is that individual bikers have dispersed across the country thereby spreading the number of targets and increasing the likelihood of proliferation.
It is expected that the Justice Minister will approve additional legislation, with the support of most political parties. Tightening of existing gun laws is likely and it has already been suggested that possession of machine-guns and armour-piercing shells will result in a 4-year sentence. Sentences for illegal possession of hand guns are also expected to increase.
The Minister has also given notice of an extension in police powers such as covert searching (searching personal belongings to look for evidence) in cases relating to drugs and murder where a specific group is considered responsible. There will also be increased use of telephone-tapping even in minor cases and the confiscation of property and money from people who are convicted, for example in drug cases and financial crimes.
The use of anonymous witnesses and civilian informers is still under discussion, despite considerable opposition from legal experts, human rights organisations and leftist political parties. The Vice-Commissioner (Crime), Troe