Protesters criticise Copenhagen police
Updated on 13 December 2009
Climate campaign groups criticise Danish police tactics after nearly 1,000 people were arrested during yesterday's protests in Copenhagen.
Two Britons were deported and more than 960 people arrested as tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets yesterday in a largely peaceful march to mark the mid-point of UN negotiations on climate change.
The World Development Movement's director Deborah Doane said: "It's absolutely outrageous that the police responded in this extreme manner on an incredibly family-friendly march.
"It's a complete violation of the right to protest and a step towards the breakdown of democracy.
"This is the most crucial issue of our time and the people must be heard, not criminalised."
Campaign group Climate Justice Action claimed protesters had been indiscriminately arrested by Danish police. Helga Matthiassen said: "Not only have we been denied the right to protest, but our basic human rights have also been ignored in this ludicrous, staged police exercise."
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will also be speaking at a church service in Copenhagen later.
Bells at churches across Britain are also to ring out 350 times to highlight the 350 parts per million some developing nations say is the safe upper concentration for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. York Minster and Westminster Cathedral are joining the world event to coincide with a service in the Danish capital.
