Despite concerns about potential disruptions, this year’s Folkemøde (People’s Meeting) in Denmark was only interrupted once on Thursday. The organization behind the political festival reported to Ritzau that only one debate was interrupted by activists. This gives the organizers reason to breathe a sigh of relief so far.
To address the organizers’ concerns, Folkemødet had prepared a guide with frequently asked questions about “noisy and disruptive activists.” This guide offers advice on how to handle possible interruptions, and the organizers could also request a mediator from Folkemødet.
However, the Free Press Society (Trykkefrihedsselskabet) chose not to use this opportunity during a debate with, among others, the Social Democrats’ spokesperson on immigration, Frederik Vad, on Thursday morning. According to Aia Fog, the chairperson of the Free Press Society, it was pro-Palestinian protesters who interrupted the debate by shouting “no speaking time for racism.” Fog explained: “We were prepared for this, so we had bought referee whistles. We started blowing them in their faces, and they quickly withdrew.” After that, the debate could continue as planned.
The Free Press Society, however, expects to be targeted by activists again later at Folkemødet. Aia Fog describes the situation as “extremely provocative” and states: “If they behave according to the usual rules, of course, they can have speaking time. The problem is that they will obstruct our meetings and prevent them from being held.”
DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation) has spoken with one of the activists, Ingrid Larsen from the association Students Against Occupation, who participated in the interruption. She explained that Frederik Vad needed to be interrupted because, according to her, he “spoke about specific ethnicities creating insecurity in Denmark.” Larsen added: “When the premise of the conversation is wrong, it may be necessary to interrupt the democratic conversation, even though it has value in itself.”