Denmark:Press treatment of refugees and crime
01 January 1991
Denmark:Press treatment of refugees and crime
artdoc March=1993
The Danish Red Cross has set up emergency asylum centres in
sports halls, hotels and inns to house the record number of
asylum seekers seeking entry to Denmark, particularly from the
former Yugoslavia. Nine thousand three hundred refugees have
sought asylum in Denmark so far this year, in comparison with
9,299 in 1986, the previous highest figure. (Jyllands-Posten
30.10.92)
But the presence of the refugees, often in overcrowded asylum
centres, has led local communities to mobilise against them. At
the same time, a media focus on crime and asylum seekers has led
to further hostility.
In October, two youths threw a petrol bomb into the Gram asylum
centre in South Jutland, in order, they claimed, to punish
shop-lifting foreigners. At the beginning of October, there had
been a great deal of publicity about alleged shop-lifting asylum
seekers which had resulted in a short-lived ban by shopkeepers
on foreigners bringing bags into their shops. And items could
only be removed from the shelves under the supervision of a shop
assistant. In Frederica, the Red Cross agreed to move an asylum
centre away from a residential area where levels of unemployment
and social problems were high among the Danish population and
where foreigners had been banned from local bars.
On 20 October, Danish TV's `45 minutes' programme visited the
town of Grasten. The programme, which has been criticised for its
highly negative format, showed that the recent arrival of
refugees from Yugoslavia had resulted in bar and shopowners
refusing to serve them and local people claiming that the new
arrivals would cream off social benefits and jobs. Some people
interviewed also threatened demonstrations to protest against the
government's asylum policies.
Then, following an incident in Ribe, where 13 residents from
an asylum centre were found to be in possession of 200,000 to
300,000 kroner worth of stolen goods, calls were made for the
refugees responsible to be deported. justice Minister Hans Engell
has suggested that the arrested asylum seekers' applications be
given priority treatment and, if grounds for asylum are
dismissed, they will be sent home. (Jyllands Posten 1.10; 29.10;
39.10; 31.10. 92)
Racism
IRR European Race Audit no 1 1992
Contact: Liz Fekete Institute of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke
Street, London WC1X 9HS. Tel: ++ 071 837 0041