Editors to complain after police hit photographers at Copenhagen demos

Two press photographers were hit by police while covering demonstrations in Copenhagen on Saturday, and editors at Politiken and Ekstra Bladet plan to complain, DR reports.

Politiken editor-in-chief Christian Jensen told Ekstra Bladet he would report the incident. He called it “a deeply unacceptable and serious attack on the free press’s ability to do its work.” He said he would complain to Copenhagen Police and report the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Authority, which handles complaints about police conduct.

Ekstra Bladet editor-in-chief Knud Brix also plans to complain, the paper reported.

The photographers were covering a demonstration organised by the right-wing grassroots movement Det Danske Folk and counter-demonstrations arranged by several left-wing organisations. Ekstra Bladet photographer Anthon Unger said he was wearing a press badge but was struck on the arm with a police baton. Politiken photographer Thomas Borberg was also hit, and his camera was smashed, according to the newspaper. He went to hospital.

Copenhagen Police vice-police inspector Jakob Hansen confirmed that both uniformed and plainclothes officers had taken out their batons. The police have neither confirmed nor denied that the photographers were hit. Hansen said officers needed to review their own documentation to establish what happened.