Battle of Ryesgade

The Battle of Ryesgade took place in mid-September 1986, in the Copenhagen street Ryesgade. The reason for the battle was the upcoming eviction of a squatted building. The battle was the violent culmination of a long standing conflict, between the Copenhagen city council and the city's community of squatters. For nine days the squatters barricaded the entrances to the street and defended the squat against waves of attacking police. As far as streetfighting goes, the battle was of a magnitude never before seen in Denmark and it marked a crucial turning point for the Danish squatters movement.

Rather die standing up, then living life on your knees! (Motto of the squatters in Ryesgade)

Background

Up through the 1980s a series of battles had been fought between the Copenhagen city council and the Copenhagen squatters movement. The squatters movement in Denmark had since the beginning of the 80s become an active and well-founded social movement. The movement started in Copenhagen were a group of young people started to take over empty buildings, using them for free housing and as alternative cultural and community centres. The youngsters were made up from a mixture of punks, left-wing activists and unemployed teenagers who had their basis, in the working-class area of Nørrebro. The situation i Denmark at the time, was one of high unemployment and poor housing, especially in Copenhagen. The Copenhagen City Council, lead by the social democratic mayor Egon Widekamp, had in the 1970s begun a process of rehousing for people living in the poor areas of Copenhagen. The process involved the demolition of large parts of the old boroughs surrounding the city centre. Although the plan was to raise the living standard for working class people, the consequence often was that the new houses became to expensive for these people to live in. Many found themselves "temporarily" relocated to elsewhere in the city, and when they wanted to return to their old homes, they found the rent to be to high for them to pay. This gave rise to a growing anger towards the city council and a felling amongst the poor people of Copenhagen that decisions concerning their lives were being made without them having anything to say about it. The City's plans also left many old and worn, but still useful, buildings empty. At the same time a lot of young people were unemployed and without homes. All these factors would in time lay the foundation for the rise of the squatters movement.

The Copenhagen Squatters Movement

The Copenhagen Squatters Movement first saw the light of day when a group of young people moved in and took over an abandoned bread factory in Nørrebro. Their demands where simple. They wanted the city council to give them a house where the young people of Copenhagen could gather. Further more the house had to be completely selforganised and under the control of the youths, without the city council having any influence on the day to day running of the house. The action lasted only two hours before the police moved in and cleared the factory, but the action started a chain of events that over the next ten years was going to shake the city of Copenhagen to its very core.

Over the next year or so the squatters movement grew, and so did the number of squats. At the same time the tensions between the squatters and the authorities started escalate. On the March 6, 1982 the first real violent confrontation between squatters and police took place. An old building had earlier in the day been squatted by about 90 people. When the police moved in the squatters bombarded them with bricks and other building materials. Several of the squatters were also wearing bandanna's and ski masks to hide their faces The police tried to break down the door but where forced to give up because of the squatters attack. Only when they brought in an armoured car and an industrial saw, did they manage to get inside the building. Several of the people inside was the severely beaten by the police. This event marked a turning point in the conflict. Where the evictions of other squats had been relatively peaceful, this were the first time that the squatters had actually attacked the police when defending a squat. During the first attack a toilet was thrown at the police. This act later became famous as a symbol of the end of the squatters' peaceful resistance against evictions.

• Toilet being thrown at the police
  Toilet being thrown at the police
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  The famous squat Allotria in Nørrebro

After the confrontation in march, the movement gained significant advances. In the spring and summer of 1982 a bunch of new squats were established. The squats was mostly located in Nørrebro and, unlike before, the police didn't move in and evict the squatters right away. This allowed the squatters to establish the first collectives were they could experiment with living and organizing themselves.The houses, who soon grew in to a solid squatters-community, included such now-famous houses as Allotria,Bazooka, Den Lille Fjer(The Little Feather), Garternergade 14(Gardener street 14), Snehvide(Snowwhite), Safari and many more. The houses became flourishing centres for alternative culture and housing. Especially Allotria became a place where the alternative music scene could evolve. In Bazooka the squatters even set up a "squatters housing-service". Here they kept a record over empty houses and flats in the area. If you were in need of a place to live you could come to Bazooka. You were then shown an empty house and fitted with a crowbar to break down the door.As the activities around the houses grew so did the number of people getting involved with squatting. The squatters experienced great support from the people in the local community, many of which saw the squatters as fighting for a noble cause. All in all the squatters experienced a time of growth and a sense of victory. At the same time the squatters became more hard line in their attitudes towards the authorities. In the fall of 1982 a series of confrontations took place. Most famous of these was Endagskrigen(The one-day war) where the squatters fought a street battle with the police, when they tried to evict one of the squatted houses. The confrontation was the most violent battle yet fought. The squatters set up improvised barricades in the streets and bombarded police with stones and building materials taken from nearby construction sites. Molotov-cocktails was also used by some of the squatters.

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  Ungdomshuset.Jagtvej 69. 1982/2007
• Barricade build during the oneday-war
  Barricade build during the oneday-war

The problems with the squatters soon proved to big a problem for the city council to handle and in October 1982 they caved in to the squatters original demands and handed over an old building for them to use. The building was named Ungdomshuset(litterally meaning The Youth House) and was located on Jagtvej 69 in Nørrebro.(The house was evicted on March 1, 2007, after the city council sold the building to a Christian sect) With this gesture the city council hoped that the squatters would abandoned the squatted houses and settle for the new building on Jagtvej 69. This didn't happen. The squatters made it clear that they were not going to give up their homes and under the slogan "Squat Your Flat" they once more took up the fight. This time against the housing policies of the city council. As a result the city council and the Mayor launched a wave of evictions against the squatters. In January 1983 the police moved in and evicted Allotria. A huge police force of about 1500 police had been mobilised for the eviction. The squatters realized that they stood no chance against such a big police force. When the police moved in to evict the house, the squatters had escaped into a neighboring house, through a tunnel dug under the street. The tunnel was seen by the media and the public as a creative stroke of genius. The police was ridiculed in the papers and the general public saw it as victory for the squatters. The squatters didn't see it that way. They felt that they had failed in not defending their homes and to them the "victory" that everybody was talking about, was at the very best bittersweet. Over the next couple of days the massive police force evicted the rest of the squats in Nørrebro. Bulldozers then moved in and demolished the houses. The squatters made a pact with themselves, never again to give up a squat without a fight. A promise they would make good on three years later in Ryesgade.

The squatting of Ryesgade 58

In 1983 a group of squatters moved in and took control over an empty house in Ryesgade 58. The squatters moved in slowly and in small groups, to avoid detection from the police. The plan succeeded, and after a couple of months a well organized squat had been established. The squat was organized so that every floor was an independent collective in its own right. Each of these collectives was then charged with organizing and maintaining their part of the house. Weekly meetings were also held for everybody living in the house and here the collectives played a vital role as a basis for discussion. No matter if it were politics, ideology or practical matters concerning the house, that were being talked about. The squatters were for a large part made up from "older" squatters who had been with the movement since its beginning. When the squatters moved in the house was not very suitable for human living, but the squatter soon started to renovate the house and within six months toilets and kitchens had been build on every floor. The house was also been insulated and parts of the roof was torn down and replaced. The house soon became the unofficial headquarters of the squatters movement. The house became the centre for the squatters political activities and was usually the place where foreign squatters lived when visiting Copenhagen. The rest of the squatters movement soon regained their strength and after the squatting of Ryesgade 58 other new squats were established around Copenhagen. These squats included Kapaw in Østerbro, Baldersgade 20(Baldursstreet 20),Bauhaus and the famous Sorte Hest(Black Horse).

Conflict with the owners and the City-council

In 1984 negotiations regarding the house in Ryesgade began. The house was owned by the association UNGBO. UNGBO was originally created by the National Association of City Councils, to tackle the problems with youth housing in the mayor citys of Denmark. The squatters demanded that UNGBO and the city council gave the house status of "autonomous housing". This involved that the city council would allow the house to be under the control of the people living their and that the resident would be free to organize the house themselves without interference from the city council. After nearly to years of negotiation a compromise was reached between the squatter and UNGBO. It was agreed that the residents would be given full control over the house and that the house would be given status as a "social experiment". The squatters felt that this was an acceptable agreement. The city council didn't see it that way. Since UNGBO was technically under the control of the city council, the agreement between the squatters and UNGBO had to be approved by them. In June 1986 the city council and mayor Engon Widekamp rejected the agreement and told UNGBO that they would have to call on the police to evict Ryesgade 58. UNGBO complied with this and the squatters were told that they had until September 14th to leave the house. Otherwise the police would be set in to evict the house by force. This angred the squatters who literally replied to UNGBO that they and the city council could "stick it up their ass". The squatters then started to prepare the defence of Ryesgade 58. The stage was now set for what would be the biggest confrontations ever fought between the squatters and the police.

September 14 demonstration

In the months leading up to September 14th the police prepared the eviction of Ryesgade 58. The plan was to move in at midnight and evict the house while the squatters were still in their beds. Unlike other evictions the police would this time move in on the day of the deadline. This had not been done before with other evictions and the plan was to take the squatters by surprise and minimize the time available for them to prepare a defence of the house. What they didn't know was that the squatters had been preparing for months and that they knew when the police was going to move in. A couple of days before the eviction was to take place, posters were hung up all over the city. The posters invited people to come to a demonstration in support of the house. The poster showed a large image of a burning car and the text said that it was a good idea to show up with your face masked. This did raise some eyebrows at police headquarters, but in the end the police estimated that it was just a coincidence and that nothing big was under way. The police also thought that since the demonstration was held at 10.00 pm on a Sunday, not many people would attend. They were mistaken. As the demonstration began at Rådhuspladsen it was attended by well over 2000 masked demonstrators. The demonstrators were very determined and aggressive and the police soon found themselves outmatched. As the demonstration moved towards Nørrebro every police officer that could be spared was directed to the demonstration. When the demonstrators reached Nørrebro fireworks were fired in to the air and the demonstration suddenly changed direction and started to move towards Ryesgade and the house. At this point more people had joined the demonstration. Flyers with the text "The fight is on" was handed out by squatters present in the demonstration. The police at this point found themselves unable to control the demonstration and had to watch in horror as the demonstration moved towards Ryesgade 58. When the demonstration were within a few hundred yards of Ryesgade people started to run. The demonstration broke through the remaining police lines and within a couple of minutes they had entered Ryesgade. The sight that meet them their was unbelievable. The demonstration had been a cover and while the police had been busy handling the demonstrators, the squatters in Ryesgade 58 had moved in to the street and started to set up barbedwire-barricades. The barricades had been prepared in advance, build over the summer in the courtyard behind the house, and they were not the only preparations the squatters had made. Most of the squatters were wearing blue overall work suits, ski masks and combat boots. Many of them were also wearing motorcyckle helmets and carrying clubs and iron bars for close quarters fighting with the police and several were equipped with powerful slingshots. On top of that several hundred molotov cocktails had been prepared and were now being carried to the barricades. A large banner had been hung from squat. It read "Rather die standing up, then living life on your knees!". The police could only look on as the demonstration joined the squatters at the barricades.

• Demonstrators at the September 14 demonstration
  Demonstrators at the September 14 demonstration
• Armed squatters at barbedwire-barricade
  Armed squatters at barbedwire-barricade
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  Map showing the position of the house and the surrounding lines of barricades

</gallery> Under the supervision of the squatters people started to expand the barricades. A nearby construction site was raided and trailers and building materials were taken and used to build more barricades. Soon the barricades were expanded to cover several streets and the barricades were at places four or five layers deep. Cobblestones from the streets were broken up and disrupted amongst the barricades to be used as missiles. Soon the whole street had been turned in to something like a fortress. After an hour the police tried to attack the barricades. The attack seemed as an act of desperation and only 50 police officers were involved in the charge. The attack was quickly turned back and the police had to retreat under a hail of stones and iron pellets fired from slingshots. Several police officers were injured in the attack. The police then retreated to regroup and apart from a few skirmishes at the outskirts of the barricades both side settled in to get themselves organized. Around 600 people, primarily youngsters, had chosen to remain behind the barricades and help the squatters defend the house. As night settled on the first day of the Battle of Ryesgade rumours of what had happened spread all over Copenhagen.

Second day.

As the squatters awoke on the second day they found themselves surrounded by an army of police. During the night all of the available men the Copenhagen police force could muster had been called on duty and the squatters now faced a force of over 400 police in riot gear. But at the same time hundreds of ordinary citizens and news reporters had also made their way to Ryesgade. The police had been planing to storm the barricades at dawn but the presence of so many ordinary people in the area, many of which had made their way all the way to the barricades and were now talking with the squatters, made their plans impossible. It was decided that the attack would be have to be called of until the area around Ryesgade were under firm police control and they could prevent people from getting close to the barricades. While the police were busy trying to control the crowds, some of the reporters warned the squatters that the police were planning "something big" and the squatters quickly organized a plan to counter the upcoming attack. The 700 defenders were organized in to six groups. Each of the groups were charged with different parts of the defence. The barricades were divided into four sections and each section had a group of defenders attached to it. These four groups were the biggest of the six groups( about 130 people strong) and were named "the standing units". The two other groups were named "the mobile unit" and "the house unit". The house unit was charged wth defending the back entrance of the house and manning a lookout post on the roof of the house. It was their responsibility of warning the other groups in case of an attack and overseeing many of the logistic task such as the making of molotov-cocktails. They also had to prepare a defence of the house in case the police broke through the barricades. The role of the mobile unit was to support the standing units at the barricades. This unit was not attached to any particular barricade but would be free to move from barricade to barricade and assist if the defenders were in danger of being overwhelmed. A lot of people in this unit were given helmets and clubs for hand-to-hand fighting.

At about 13.30 AM the police attacked. A wave of about 150 police in riot gear charged the western part of the barricades. Due to an early warning from the lookout post on top of the squat, the defenders were prepared to meet them. The defenders bombarded the police with stones and molotov-cocktails. Even though the police formed into a solid shield wall they failed to take the barricades. After about 10 minutes the police had to retreat. Of the 150 police officers involved in the charge only about 14 made it near the barricades. All of were badly injured and had to be rushed to the hospital. All in all about 40 police officers were injured in the attack. After the failed attack the police employed their plan B. The plan was to send several squads of police in through the alleys and back houses surrounding Ryesgade. These squads would then go through an old shop and emerge well behind the barricades. The police were hoping that this would create a gap through which more police could be send, eventually establishing a bridgehead within Ryesgade. At 16.30 they sent the first squads in. The plan failed. Local residents, who had spotted the police moving through the back alleys, warned the squatters of the police attack and when the police broke down the door to the shop they found a large and armed group of defenders waiting for them. The squatters started hurling stones through the shop window and the police officers at the front soon found themselves trapped between the attacking squatters and the rush of police coming in from behind. Instead of retreating the police commanders ordered their men to form a shield wall and tried to push their way into the street. The squatters responded by throwing a molotov cocktail at the shop but the police had brought fire-extinguishers with them and were able to put out the fire. For a moment it looked as if the police would actually manage to push home their attack. But the squatters were not going to let that happen. Some of the squatters had gotten hold of some tear gas grenades and three of these were thrown into the shop. The police were carrying gas mask but it was impossible for them to put them on without breaking their shield wall, and thus expose themselves to the incoming stones. The police attack broke and the police had to make haphazard retreat back through the alleys. 15 police officers were injured in the attack and another 20-30 had to be taken to hospital to have their eyes flushed because of the tear gas. After this the police gave up trying to storm the barricades. The order was given that nobody was to try and enter the area and that if anybody did enter, it would be at the risk of their lifes. The police now focused on keeping the squatters inside the barricaded area. The police commanders feared that the squatters would try to expand the barricades to include several main roads around the house and the order was given that nobody was to attack the squatters unless they tried to move beyond the lines of barricades. The rest of the day saw a series of skirmishes between the police and the squatters. Normally these were just small incidents without any injuries to either side. The police now started to play the waiting game. This they hoped would give them time to re-organize and for extra forces from the rest of Denmark to arrive.

• Molotov-cocktail being thrown at police
  Molotov-cocktail being thrown at police
• Police forming shield wall
  Police forming shield wall
• The defenders were well organaized and had units of sentries watching the police
  The defenders were well organaized and had units of sentries watching the police

Third day

The next day the situation in Ryesgade had become the talk of the nation. News headlines had been cleared and the national news broadcasting had canceled shows and were transmitting live updates on the situation. Most elements of the press were very critical and hateful towards the squatters and their supporters. Headlines calling the squatters "a bunch of terrorists" and "masked maniacs" were common. The squatters awoke and found themselves faceing a horde of journalists all shouting questions and demanding answers from the defenders. The news headlines angered the squatters deeply and they at first refused to talk to the press. But as the squatters found out that they might be facing a prolonged siege, they eventually decided to address the press. The press were invited behind the barricades where there was a press conference. Though the police had warned people of going near the barricaded area, dozens of reporters from all the large media outlets made their way to the barricades. Here they were met by representatives of the squatters. The squatters had prepared a statement explaining why they had acted as they had and what their demands were. In the statement the squatters attacked the city council and the mayor, calling them "a bunch of arrogant bureaucrats," and furthermore stated that they would not leave the barricades until the negotiations were re-opened or another acceptable solution had been found. The statement ended with these words: "We are not doing this because we do not want to find a solution to this conflict. We have presented our reasonable demands to the city council time and time again. But we have been met by politicians who do not give a fuck about the people living in their city. Our demands have been rejected as if they didn't exist. We have not taken to the streets because we want to fight! We have taken to the streets because we are furious and angry at those who hide behind their desks and try to control our lives!"