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Greenlanders harassed out of council estate

Published 07.07.08   16:38 

A number of Greenlanders are moving out of an Århus council estate after verbal and physical threats by teenagers Greenlanders in the Gellerup housing estate in Århus have had to move out of their homes due to attacks from residents...

‘I couldn’t take being a target any more,’ said Johanne Christiansen, one of the Greenlanders who has moved out. ‘It was psychological pressure. But I’m angry that it is we who have to move and not them. They’re the ones who attacked us.’

Århus city council is now inthe process of finding a new place for the Greenlanders to live.

The Greenlanders have typically heard shouts such as ‘F--k off home to Greenland – this is our Gellerup’ from their assailants.

While the public housing authority has condemned the attacks, it stated it could not do anything to stop them.

‘We can’t accept this kind of thing, but there’s nothing we can do,’ said Torben Overgaard, head of the authority. ‘In order to enforce the housing regulations we have to have evidence and the names of the assailants, and we don’t in these cases.’

Overgaard said the problem’s root is obvious.

‘When Greenlanders – who drink a lot – live somewhere where the residents are primarily Muslims – who don’t drink alcohol – then conflicts arise.’

The Copenhagen Post