After a terrorist attack, Denmark passed a massive renovation and relocation program aimed at eliminating the de facto segregation of many poor urban neighborhoods by 2030. Mjølnerparken, Denmark’s most notorious housing project, is to be radically rebuilt. At one time, 1,500 immigrants from countries such as Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea lived here. But many of them have now had to leave their homes. The Danish government is pursuing a plan to eliminate the de facto ethnic segregation that has developed in many urban neighborhoods. No more parallel societies in the country by 2030, is the goal.
In order to achieve this goal, houses are currently being demolished in various districts across the country, and over 10,000 people are being relocated, including the residents of Mjølnerparken. The housing development ended up on the Danish government's «ghetto list» in 2010. Until 2021, this is how the government designated neighborhoods in which more than 50% of residents had a «non-Western migration background.» In Mjølnerparken that figure was over 80%.
The government has since abandoned the controversial term, and replaced it with «parallel societies.» But the plan has remained the same: Ethnic Danes are to move into the renovated housing projects and thereby end segregation. The story of Mjølnerparken is a story about Denmark's migration policy. There are two versions of it.
The first version of the story is about failed integration, violence and men like Omar al-Hussein. Al-Hussein was born in Denmark in September 1992, to Palestinian parents. In the same year, the family moved to Mjølnerparken. Since the 1990s, the brick houses built for the Danish middle class have been primarily home to people with an immigrant background. At that time, Danish migration policy was liberal. Today, the country's policy is considered to be among Europe's most restrictive.
It is November 2023. Four men are standing at a construction site, which was once a green courtyard, drinking coffee. They all come from Palestine. They are more concerned about the situation in the Gaza Strip than about Danish migration policy. Only one of the men still lives in Mjølnerparken. The others have already moved away. «When we came to Denmark, we were placed here, and now they complain that only Muslims live here,» says one of the men. He sounds cynical. «Because of a few youngsters who caused trouble, they're now throwing us all out.»
One of these youngsters was Omar al-Hussein. He was already a criminal when he became a terrorist on Feb. 14, 2015. At 3:33 p.m., shots were fired outside a cultural venue in the Österbro district of Copenhagen. Inside, an event on the topics of art, blasphemy and the freedom of expression was taking place. A few moments later, 55-year-old Danish filmmaker Finn Nörgaard was lying in his own blood on the sidewalk outside. Al-Hussein shot 27 bullets through the glass door into a cafe. Four police officers who were on site to protect the event were injured. He then ran.
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