30,000 rally in Copenhagen in support of migrants: police

Some 30,000 people joined a rally in Copenhagen on Saturday in favour of taking in thousands of refugees seeking shelter in Europe, police said.

“Everything is taking place in a calm and orderly way,” said a post on the official Twitter feed of Copenhagen police, indicating that roughly 30,000 people had gathered for the demonstration.

Demonstrators held up signs reading “Refugees Welcome” and “Europe is the closest neighbourhood to Syria”, local media reported.

Another smaller rally took place in Padborg, a village on the German border through which many refugees have passed, where some 400 people gathered to show their support.

At the same time, a counter-demonstration in the same village drew around 150 people who called for the borders to be closed, local police said.

After briefly suspending rail links between Denmark and Germany to prevent refugees from entering, Danish police on Thursday allowed services to resume, saying they would allow people to travel without registering if they were not planning on lodging an asylum claim.

Many newcomers are hoping to reach Sweden which is seen as more welcoming and has a more generous asylum policy. For the past two years, Sweden has automatically granted a permit to stay to Syrians filing an asylum claim.

Meanwhile in Stockholm, around a thousand people gathered to express support for a more generous policy of welcoming refugees.

“Sweden can do much more, not only because it has the capacity to do so but also because it, along with the European Union, bears some responsibility for the conflict in Syria,” said a 38-year-old demonstrator called Joakim, who came long with his two children.