Morsø residents protest budget cuts threatening school and nurseries

About 100 demonstrators gathered in heavy rain as 17 local politicians arrived to give Morsø Municipality’s budget for the next four years its first reading, DR reported. The proposed budget includes savings of up to 50 million kroner and could lead to the closure of a school and two nurseries.

The budget remains open to negotiations. The demonstration took place outside Sparekassen Thy Arena, where the municipal council meeting had been moved because many people had registered to attend.

Protesters were particularly opposed to plans to close M.C. Holms School in Nykøbing Mors and move its pupils to Dueholmskolen. They also objected to closing Børnehaven Lundkjærvej in Nykøbing and Majgården in Frøslev.

Demonstrator Louise Breinholt said it was regrettable that the municipality was considering closing facilities that were popular and well-functioning. She said there was a waiting list for Børnehaven Lundkærvej.

Breinholt has returned to Mors from Aarhus because she wanted to experience what she described as the qualities that make Mors distinctive. She said the proposed closures represented the opposite of that vision and that she was moved by the number of people who had turned out to protest in the pouring rain.

Another demonstrator, Pia Møller Johansen, said preserving the three institutions was important because her son’s future was at stake. She said she had attended M.C. Holms School herself and that people needed to protect the future.