People convicted of some crimes will not be able to access all areas of the city at night.
September 14 marks a new way of policing areas of Copenhagen with a high density of bars and nightclubs. People with convictions including possession of weapons, and convictions related to vandalism will not be allowed to walk freely between the hours of 12 midnight and 5 am in the following areas: Gothersgade, Vesterbrogade, Kødbyen, and Vestergade.
The new measure will be implemented from Tuesday, September 14 and the penalty will be a 10,000 DKK fine. Speaking to Copenhagen Post, Anne Tønnes from Copenhagen Police said: ‘The four areas have been chosen because they all have a high concentration of pubs, which attract a lot of people. These particular streets also see more criminal offences and violent incidents than anywhere else on the nightlife scene.’
The ban is legal due to a law introduced on July 1 2021 that enables police to ban people who have broken the law from restaurants and bars after a certain time, and repeatedly breaking the new ban will result in 30 days in prison. All in all, bans in these four zones will exist until September 2023, at which point the success of the nightime zone ban will be reassessed.
If you’d like to read the act the full act that has been amended and passed to make this possible, you can visit the police website. There’s also more information available there on the new zones and guidance on what to do next if you or somebody you know has a conviction associated with possession of weapons or vandalism.