16 Dez: Reclaim the Power

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Copenhagen day of mass protest passes without major incident

Danish police arrest 260 people after a day of mass protest where 4,000 campaigners marched on the Bella centre and activists inside staged a noisy walkout

Protests involving thousands of people today inside and outside the Bella conference centre hosting UN climate talks in Copenhagen have passed off without major incident.

About 4,000 campaigners marched on the Bella centre in an attempt to stage a "people's assembly" inside the summit, but were stopped by police. At least 260 protesters have been detained following clashes outside the Bella centre, said the Danish police spokesman, Per Larsen.

Tim Jones, policy officer for anti-poverty campaigners the World Development Movement, said: "Today thousands of people sought to create a people's assembly to get voices heard offering real solutions to the climate crisis. The people's assembly was stopped by police who committed unprovoked violence on both protesters and official delegates to the UN negotiations.

Danish police arrest 230 activists as world leaders arrive in Copenhagen

Security measures stepped up around city as thousands of demonstrators set off for mass invasion of Bella centre

Danish police today arrested 230 people at various points around Copenhagen, where world leaders and officials are meeting for UN climate talks.

The news came as thousands of protesters set out in Copenhagen this morning in a bid to take over the conference centre where the talks are taking place. The organisers of the mass "Reclaim Power" march, the Climate Justice Action and Climate Justice Now! (CJN) networks of campaigners, said they hope to enter the Bella centre today, where NGOs and activist groups were struggling to gain entry this morning, to hold a "people's assembly" in protest at the direction the talks are taking.

In the bitter cold outside the Bella centre where the conference is being held, a group of around 60 people including indigenous groups, mainstream environment groups and journalist and activist Naomi Klein were protesting about NGOs being excluded from the conference centre. They had been met by police who warned that they may be arrested, although there has not been any violence. Klein said of the handling of the protests that, "Denmark is losing its reputation for being a good world citizen."

Copenhagen: Hundreds Arrested in Protest; Police Brutality; Pressure Builds Inside the Conference

These are shocking images of police brutality from outside the Bella Center where the UN climate talks seem to be fracturing just hours before over 100 heads of state are scheduled to arrive to debate a climate deal. It’s all the more striking to see the faces of some of our friends and co-workers in this video from CNN (it can’t embed, but please do watch, it is striking footage)

Chaos inside the UN summit, random arrests and raids outside

The Danish police have escalated their attempts to criminalise and harass activists from the group Climate Justice Action in tactics described as “desperate and self-interested.”

The group is an international coalition of grass-roots organisations, representing the voices of those marginalised from the UN process from the start of these negotiations, including indigenous rights activists, farmers movements and environmentalists.