Brorson’s church after police action

The religious and political repercussions continue after the police removal of failed Iraqi asylum-seekers from Brorson’s Church in Copenhagen, where they had taken shelter for two months. A number of them have since been forcibly deported back to Iraq, which has agreed to accept them.

In September the pastor of the church,Per Ramsdal, expressed his open support for failed asylum-seekers, a number of whom have spent years in Denmark due partly to the slowness of the system and partly to their unwillingness to accept a rejection.

A reconsecration of the church?

In the police action considerable damage was done to the church altar and organ; repairs are estimated to cost $40-50,000. And in a break with normal practice the police released their own video-film to defend their action. This too then ran into considerable criticism on the principle that the path was now open for the police to manipulate public opinion via the media.

The whole fracas has caused some leading church people to call for a reconsecration of the church, but this has been rejected by the newly-appointed bishop of Copenhagen, Peter Skov-Jakobsen. “Throughout the actions of both asylum-seekers and police the church has been open,” he says. “The holiness of a church rests on the word being preached and the sacraments being administered; it is not damaged by people just being there, whatever the way they behave.”

By: Edward Broadbridge

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