DENMARK-SHOOTING/NORREBRO Copenhagen shooter's neighbourhood no stranger to tension
Record ID:
324480
DENMARK-SHOOTING/NORREBRO Copenhagen shooter's neighbourhood no stranger to tension
- Title: DENMARK-SHOOTING/NORREBRO Copenhagen shooter's neighbourhood no stranger to tension
- Date: 17th February 2015
- Summary: COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (FEBRUARY 16, 2015) (REUTERS) STREET VIEW WITH PEDESTRIANS AT NORREBRO CLOSE OF WOMEN WALKING IN THE STREET BIKE AND TWO MEN PASSING BY MAN, SMOKING A CIGARETTE, WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) NORREBRO LOCAL COMMITTEE MEMBER MOGENS PETERSEN SAYING: "Everybody is a product of the neighbourhood, of their the family of their school time, whatever drugs they take, I mean, I don't think that it has anything to do with it. He could have been living in other places in Copenhagen or in Jutland or. No I don't think it's that." VARIOUS PETERSEN ON THE PHONE WHILE WALKING ON THE STREET PETERSEN SITTING IN A CAFE AT THE TERRACE TALKING TO A MAN MOGENS PETERSEN PUTTING ON GLASSES AND TAKING UP THE PHONE (SOUNDBITE) (English) NORREBRO LOCAL COMMITTEE MEMBER MOGENS PETERSEN SAYING: "I don't hope so, there is no reason, I mean, there is no reason to do it. You never know when it comes to politics on a high level, you never know what's happening, or maybe you do. I hope they all stay calm this time. It's a very tragic event and we do not want more of them. So let's behave, let's talk nicely to each other, about each other." SMALL CROWD GATHERED BY FLOWER TRIBUTES ON THE STREET VARIOUS OF FLOWERS VARIOUS PEOPLE WATCHING (SOUNDBITE) (English) NORREBRO RESIDENT DITTE JENSEN SAYING: "I could not believe it happened right outside my main door, that was a shock and it was very sad that it happened here in this neighbourhood because it's got a bad reputation as it is. So that made me very sad of course, but it happened." FLOWERS ON THE STREET PEOPLE IN STREET WHERE FLOWERS AND TRIBUTES ARE LAID PEOPLE PASSING CYCLISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) NORREBRO RESIDENT EMILIA SUNDBERG SAYING: "I think about it of course quite a lot but I am not scared, I am not scared to live here, not more than I was before and that was not at all. So I think it is just a coincidence that the man lived in our road. I think it is a good thing that he was shot, rather than him continuing on his killing spree." VARIOUS BIKES PARKED IN NORREBRO AREA VARIOUS MEN MOVING FURNITURE ON THE STREET (SOUNDBITE) (English) NORREBRO RESIDENT JOREN JESPERSEN SAYING: "It is not good for the integration and the process and it gives the parties in Denmark the opportunity to get their negative message (across). Not about peace and working together, things like that." VEGETABLES IN FOREGROUND AS WOMAN WITH HEAD-SCARF WALKING BY MAN AT VEGETABLE MARKET MAN SITTING IN A CAFE WITH BIKE IN FOREGROUND VARIOUS VEGETABLE MARKET
- Embargoed: 4th March 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Denmark
- Country: Denmark
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA952GT7MBANEPLI9XSDGMYJRYK
- Story Text: Every single Dane knows of Norrebro, the Copenhagen neighbourhood where police shot dead the gunman suspected of carrying out attacks on a synagogue and a free speech event that shocked the country.
Blighted by a history of protests and gang warfare, the area is a cauldron of cultures and ethnicities in sharp contrast to more homogenous regions of Copenhagen and has suffered from a bad, some residents would say overblown, reputation.
The suspect, named by media on Sunday (February 16) as Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, was shot dead right by the Norrebro train station on the corner of a busy intersection marked by brightly lit schwarma cafes, currency exchanges and other shops.
It is an area of contrast -- red-brick housing estates are found next to 100-year-old tenement buildings and a green strip of parks, game pitches and bicycle lanes run through its heart.
A busy Christian community centre is streets away from Denmark's first purpose-built mosque, opened just last summer.
But while the area appears run down, there is also a clear sense of community and a pride in its tumultuous history.
A Norrebro local committee member, Mogens Petersen, said he did not think Norrebro had made El-Hussein a killer.
"Everybody is a product of the neighbourhood, their family or their school time, whatever drugs they take, I mean, I don't think that it has anything to do with it. He could have been living in other places in Copenhagen or in Jutland or. No I don't think it's that," he said while on a walk in the neighbourhood.
Petersen recounts decades of protests and years of shootings but says he sees no reason why the weekend shootings would spark unrest in the area.
"I don't hope so, there is no reason, I mean, there is no reason to do it. You never know when it comes to politics on a high level, you never know what's happening, or maybe you do. I hope they all stay calm this time. It's a very tragic event and we do not want more of them. So let's behave, let's talk nicely to each other, about each other," he said.
Residents of Norrebro appeared resigned to the media onslaught which they say will tarnish the neighbourhood's reputation further after the area was known for protests against housing policies in what used to be a squalid workers' area.
"I could not believe it happened right outside my main door, that was a shock and it was very sad that it happened here in this neighbourhood because it's got a bad reputation as it is. So that made me very sad of course, but it happened," said Norrebro resident Ditte Jensen.
Emilia Sundberg said the events had not made her more afraid of living in Norrebro.
"I think about it of course quite a lot but I am not scared, I am not scared to live here, not more than I was before and that was not at all. So I think it is just a coincidence that the man lived in our road. I think it was a good thing that he was shot, rather than him continuing on this killing spree," she said.
Joren Jespersen said the attacks were bad for the integration process.
"It is not good for the integration and the process and it gives the parties in Denmark the opportunity to get their negative message (across). Not about peace and working together, things like that, so I am not happy about what happened," he said, referring to the populist Danish People's Party which has strong support in the polls.
In the 1970s squatters took over buildings, the hippy movement flourished and in 1980s an influx of refugees came from conflicts in Iran and Iraq, Pakistan, Morocco and Yugoslavia.
Gang fought gang, in turf warfare particularly between the Hell's Angels and new immigrant groups. Gunfire in Norrebro was not unusual although that is a thing of the past, residents say.
The suspect shooter was known to police precisely because of his connections to gangs. El-Hussein was convicted two months ago of a violent assault against a commuter on a train in 2013.
Local media citing unnamed sources said he was the son of Palestinian immigrants who argued aggressively about the Israel-Palestinian conflict, had a short fuse but had not shown signs of radicalisation that could lead to an attack. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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