About This Episode
"From Byggeren to Ryesgade – The Battle of Ryesgade, Part 1" is an episode of the Danish podcast Danske Kriminalsager, and it examines the build-up to one of the most striking actions ever carried out by Denmark's BZ squatter movement. In September 1986, an area around Ryesgade in the Østerbro district of Copenhagen was barricaded and, for several days, was effectively outside the control of the authorities.
The episode argues that the confrontation did not come out of nowhere. Through the first half of the 1980s, young housing activists and the police faced each other again and again, at squats, at evictions and in street battles that grew steadily more violent. The squatters became better at barricading buildings and organising themselves, while the police gained more experience in clearing occupied properties and handling civil unrest. At the same time, mistrust deepened on both sides, between the young activists and the authorities.
In this first of two episodes, the hosts return to Byggeren, to the earliest squats and to some of the most significant confrontations of the 1980s, in an attempt to trace the chain of events that ultimately led to Ryesgade in 1986.
Hosts and release
The hosts are Stine Bolther, Bent Isager-Nielsen and Frederik Strand, and the episode is presented by historian Anders Brandt Lundager. Frederik Strand, who is director of Politimuseet, the Danish police museum, also takes part in the episode.
The episode is part of Danske Kriminalsager, a podcast that explores major Danish criminal cases and what they have meant for police investigative methods and the Danish justice system. It runs for 34 minutes and is available on Apple Podcasts and on the Danish audio platform radioplay.dk.
