Pepper Spray Subdues Angry Crowd at Climate Summit in Copenhagen

Tens of thousands of protesters have gathered in Copenhagen this week and last to make their voices heard on the issue of climate change.

The demonstrators quickly became unruly, though, and threatened to disrupt the conference. One group threatened to take over the conference and make it a “people’s assembly.” The proximity of disruptive protesters forced Danish riot police to form a protective human barrier between the protesters and the Bella Center conference hall.

Hundreds of protesters, some counts recorded nearly 1,000, were arrested on the first day; primarily the members of a left wing group called Black Bloc. More than 250 protesters were arrested or detained following the use of pepper spray to subdue the crowd on Wednesday.

Protesters also used noise to disrupt the conference. During a live television interview, protesters chanted and began singing in order to drown out the person being interviewed, a controversial filmmaker. Finally the interview was canceled when protesters threw things at the filmmaker and made threats towards him.

The violence got out of control on Wednesday so the police officers subdued the protesters by firing pepper spray into the crowd. They also used batons to control the rioting crowd.

The entirety of the conference was larger than anticipated. The Danish government had expected 15,000 delegates but over 30,000 delegates arrived. Such a large gathering of people passionate about a hot button topic is bound to have its unruly moments. Luckily the police officers had the means to handle any issues that arose. Pepper spray was forceful enough to handle the unruly crowd but not so overwhelmingly forceful as to cause considerable harm.