Deens rookverbod begeleid door protest
Om middernacht vandaag ging in Denemarken het rookverbod in de horeca in. Het rookverbod geldt voor café’s die groter zijn dan 40 m2.
De ingang van het rookverbod werd in Kopenhagen begeleid door een protest van zo’n 50 rokers en sympathisanten. Er was volop media-belangstelling voor deze demonstratie.
Een actievoerder beschrijft de gebeurtenissen (druk op ‘Meer lezen’).
DaRy (www.dary.dk) had organized a midnight demonstration on the Copenhagen Town Hall Square. Members of the Smoker Party were also invited, and a group of conservative party youths also participated!. It was expected to gather between 20 and 50 people. The outdoor location was selected due to visbility and because those apprehensive to breaking the law would find it acceptable to protest in a legal context. The timing coincided with the legal introduction of the ban.
At around 11 pm a handful of people had shown up, plus some representatives from the press. At around midnight the congregation had gathered to a handsome 50 people, with several TV channel teams buzzing around. A large banner declared passive smoke to be a fraud. At midnight, all the protesters lighted up, in symbolic defiance against the law. This particular event was recorded by news teams from DR Radio 3, TV 2 International News, TV 2 News and Reuters. Several interviews were taken.
As far as media coverage was concerned, the smokers made a great stand. What the future brings remains to be seen.
PS: I made no less than 4 TV interviews and 1 radio interview during the day. I even had to decline doing a newspaper collumn. That was turned over the Ole Gilberg of The Smokers Party. Tomorrow, on August 15, there will be a demonstration in Århus, organized by a local restauratuer organization. I think Ole Gilberg will be a speaker on that occasion.