Danish Police Stop-Searching Coaches In Copenhagen

Description of stop and search operation by Danish police of busses arriving from abroad.

At about 13.30 today a Eurolines bus from Brussels to Copenhagen was stopped and searched by Danish Police. Onboard the bus were a number of activists from the UK, France, Germany, Belgium and elsewhere around the world. The bus was surrounded by at least five Police vans from groups 7/11 and 7/12 as it pulled up on Ingerslevsgade. Police boarded the bus and collected everyone's passports, then unloaded the hold and after about an hour of farting around, took people off the bus one at a time to watch whilst the cops went through their bags under the cameras of photographers circling the scene like carrion birds. The women on the bus seemed to be getting really soft treatment - a simple "is there anything illegal in your bag?" "No, it's all clothes" and they were released. Male passengers were subjected to much more thorough treatment. Police found gumshields, shin pads, goggles and big bags of medical kit but nothing was conficated as officers were forced to admit that none of these items were illegal. Police went through one activist's diary after being repeatedly asked not to do so, saying that they needed to build up "a thorough picture" of who he was. No-one was arrested, although earlier in the day activists were apalled to see an Afghan migrant led off the bus after passport checks at the Danish border.