Denmark: Neo-nazis exposed
01 January 1991
Denmark: Neo-nazis exposed
artdoc May=1994
As Denmark prepared for local elections in November in which
neonazis were due to stand, a television documentary, broadcast
on 8 September, revealed the behind-closed-doors activities of
the country's far-right parties. The programme contained
incriminating evidence linking right-wing extremists to two
racially motivated crimes and highlighted their support of
violence as a politically justified weapon. During one recorded
telephone conversation, leader of the Nationalist Party, Albert
Larsen, was heard to admit that he knew the six men in grey
uniforms who, in Copenhagen in June 1990, attacked and broke the
nose of Palestinian-born local politician, Lubna Elahi. Povl
Riis-Knudsen, the former leader of the nazi DNSB party who was
forced to step down last year because of his affair with an
Iranian refugee, also shed new light on a break-in at the anti-
racist organisation `Fair Play's' premises in June 1991. In
another recorded phone call, he named the current DNSB leader
Jonni Hansen as the man responsible. Police are now reopening
their files on the two cases.
Frede Farmand Rasmussen, the man who provided TV journalists
with a complete archive of revealing tapes and videos after
twenty years spent infiltrating Denmark's nazi factions, said he
now fears for his life. He says that the 100 nazis responsible
for extreme right-wing activities in Denmark belong to three
known groups - the Nationalist Party, the National Party,
Denmark, and the nazi organisation, DNSB.
Nazi leader Jonni Hansen, and leader of the National Party
Denmark, Kaj Vihelmsen, both refuse to reveal their actual
membership figures. Albert Larsen, of the Nationalist Party,
claims his party has more members than the present coalition
government's Centre Democrats (see CARF no.17 September/October
`93 and Jyllands-Posten 18.9.93).
Television test-case
The Commission for Human Rights in Strasbourg has accused Denmark
of violating human rights after three Danish courts convicted a
TV journalist and programme chief for publishing strong racist
comments made by Green Jackets. Journalist Jens Olaf Jersild and
programme chief Lasse Jensen were found guilty of spreading
racist comments in an item about Copenhagen's violent Green
Jackets on Denmark's `Radio Sunday' evening news in 1985.
Following the programme, the interviewed Green Jackets were
convicted of racial discrimination.
The Commission's findings are being seen as a victory for
freedom of expression (Jyllands Posten 24.9.93).
Refugees protest Bosnian girl's murder
The Jyllands-Posten says that the killing of a 7-year-old Bosnian
girl by a Danish man, a short distance away from an asylum-centre
in Ribe where she was staying, is not believed to be racially
motivated. However, the killing has infuriated the refugee
community in Denmark, who joined forces in a protest over the
little girl's death. The killer, who admitted the murder, worked
as a gardener in the asylum centre area, and lived in a closed
wing at a nearby psychiatric institution. Residents at the asylum
centre had on several previous occasions complained to staff
about the man's behaviour after he had asked small girls to sit
next to him on the tractor (Jyllands-Posten 18.8.93).
Liberal Party calls for internment of `violent' asylum-seekers
The Liberal Party is demanding the introduction of closed refugee
camps for the internment of violent asylum-seekers following
refugee protests at Fredericia where refugees have clashed with
locals in several incidents in recent months. The Liberal Party
spokesman on refugee issues, Birthe Roenn Hornbech, said `It is
not right that Danes are made to feel insecure in their own
country because foreigners continue their terrorist activities
and war in this country'.
In August, there were violent scenes when refugees held a
protest against the long and frustrating wait they are forced t