Less fat chance of Danes releasing French oil

French activists pushed and pulled their bus through the streets of Copenhagen on Tuesday in an effort to ridicule the Danish police into releasing their fuel – a recycled chip oil they mix with diesel to power their vehicle.

Chanting and dancing in the falling snow, the several dozen protestors accused police of adding to the climate change problems their politicians are meant to be sorting out during two weeks of international talks.

Police seized the oil last Friday as the bus travelled the streets of Danish capital, saying they suspected it would be used to make explosives. They have refused to release it until at least December 20, after the summit ends, meaning the French must either stay put or buy ordinary diesel for their return to Paris. Recycled chip oil is less polluting than either agricultural biodiesel or conventional fuel made from crude oil, something activists were keen to highlight by using it to travel to Copenhagen.

Danish authorities have struggled to contain a series of demonstrations and direct actions over the last week, arresting nearly 1,000 people then releasing all bar a handful during a largely peaceful march over the weekend. On Monday night they used tear gas and water canon in a night raid on Christiania, an alternative lifestylers’ neighbourhood near the city centre.

Mathieu Gilles, a volunteer for the French group Roule ma Frite 17 which produced the oil, said police behaviour with the oil pretty much summed up what was happening the climate talks. “It’s good to take the debate back to reality, not to one involving businesses and billions of dollars. This is about people who collected oil from around where they live, to reduce their carbon footprint, and now the police have it taken away.”

After the demonstration, which joined a bigger one involving several hundred other protestors highlighting the problems of industrial factory farming, the French activists lodged a formal request with police for the return of their oil.

“Even if you make a request, you are not going to get your oil,” a woman police officer who did not give her name said to one of the activists. “There are some people on their way to test the oil from our anti-terrorist unit,” she added.

A colleague was less discouraging to the activists though just as surly, saying the decision to release the oil was now in the hands of Copenhagen’s chief of police, who will decide on Wednesday once he gets the test results.