Danish Hospitality

New Life Copenhagen have organised 4,000 of the 35,000 delegates to live with Danish families during our stay in Copenhagen. This is how I have met and enjoyed the company and friendly generosity of the Christiansen family who live near Mozarts Plads in the South of the city. They are a typical European family who have been very supportive and excited to have so many international guests on their doorstep. On Saturday they attended the Global Day of Action with a march and rally, along with an estimated 100,000 people from all over the world. They were energised to have so many people in their city and returned with wonderful pictures and stories. It was a peaceful rally and day and I think this family were typical of those who attended and wanted to have their own voices heard as part of the protest worldwide so that politicians might listen.

The day was however marred by the actions of Danish police, who in the words of one local person "were puffed up" and "ready for action". Indeed it now transpires that the police detained 968 people. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. All were handcuffed behind their backs, put on the cold ground in rows and made to wait for up to 8 hours without toilets, medical care, water or even being allowed to move. Many urinated on their clothes in the cold. After a traumatising wait, all but 13 were released without charge, and later only 3 detained for actual violent misconduct, proving that there was little reason for such cruelty. The Danish people I have met were all apologetic to visitors from overseas. It seems a local anarchist group called "Never Trust a Cop", were black clad young people throwing bottles and fireworks at the Foreign Ministry Buildings. Any peaceful marchers who just happened to be nearby were arrested with the group.

Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu however was at the front of the march and inspired the crowd before he handed a 500,000 signature petition to UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer. His simple message "Hello rich countries - wake up! It's cheap to finance climate debt. 150 billion dollars a year would do it". He also called for a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050.

My Danish family themselves are learning about, and making changes in their own lifestyles about climate change. They need strong leadership from all sectors of government and at this stage they cannot see how this can be done. One, much photographed banner from the day simply reads "There is No Planet B".