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NYT: ‘Desperate’ Migrants Flee From Terrible, Awful DENMARK

REUTERS/Bax Lindhardt/Scanpix Denmark

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Blake Neff Reporter
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The New York Times has released its latest story on the migrant crisis in Europe, describing “desperate” “refugees” seeking to reach Sweden and escape the horrible torments of … Denmark.

“Refugees Desperate To Leave Denmark Begin March To Sweden,” cries the Times’ headline.

What exactly are the “refugees” seeking refuge from? No, Denmark isn’t wracked by civil war, and its government is perfectly stable. The country is top 10 in the U.N.’s Human Development Index. It’s not turbulence the migrants are fleeing.

Rather, it appears many are upset that Denmark has attempted to keep track of them rather than letting them roam freely.

“We flipped twice in a boat, and we suffered at the hands of gangs, for them to bring us here and fingerprint us?” Palestinian migrant Umm Mohammad told the Times. “We’ll only fingerprint in the country we want.”

Others say they hope to meet up with family members who already live in Sweden, and hope to find better treatment there.

According to the Times, hundreds of the migrants were detained in a Danish school, but Wednesday they escaped after overwhelming police officers who were forbidden from using violence to restrain them.

Danish police haven’t let the marchers flee unimpeded though. The Times says that police swooped in and collected any stragglers on the highway who fell behind the main body of marchers.

“The Danish police … did not seem to hesitate to use force in pushing marchers to the ground and onto a bus,” Times reporter Anemona Hartocollis says with scarcely concealed disgust. Police, Hartocollis says, “pushed another young man to the ground so hard that the man’s hands were cut on the pavement.”

“A little boy, looking scared, began to sob,” Hartocollis adds.

The reporter’s anger was likely increased by the fact that they were also a victim of Danish police, being forced into a bus with several migrants.

Denmark, which has a small population of just 5.6 million, has already responded to a flow of migrants trying to cross over from Germany by severing its rail link and closing several roads. The country has also taken out ads in Lebanese newspapers to discourage people from coming to the country.

Despite its lack of enthusiasm for taking in more migrants, Denmark has also been attempting (with limited success) to keep the migrants from reaching Sweden, saying it would violate its treaty obligations to let them wander freely into Sweden’s territory.

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