Frederiksen loses backing among local politicians, Christmas charity packages handed out, Swedish teenagers on trial over grenade attack near Israeli embassy and more news from Denmark this Thursday.
Social Democrat councillors say Mette Frederiksen should be replaced in survey
A number of Social Democrat councillors want Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to be replaced as leader of the party, broadcaster DR has revealed in a survey.
41 Social Democrat councillors who said no when asked whether Frederiksen is the right leader to reverse the party’s fortunes ahead of next year’s general election.
“We need a new leader. It’s the only solution I can see if we’re to win the general election. We simply have to start over,” Jan D. Andersen, a councillor in Skive who was not re-elected in last week’s local elections, told DR.
Of the 729 Social Democratic municipal councillors across the country, 233 responded to DR’s survey. Although 41 said they want Frederiksen to be replaced, 130 said they still believe she is the right person for the job. 62 did not answer the question.
Thousands of families apply for Christmas charity
Over 18,000 families have applied for the Christmas charity package offered by the charity Dansk Folkehjælp.
A total of 33,922 children live in the families, the organisation said.
40 percent of the families say their financial situations are affecting the children negatively, according to the charity. Over half said their lives have become more difficult over the last five years.
The number of applications is up by 23 percent over the last five years, although this year’s total is lower than in both 2023 and 2024.
“We’re basically back at the same level as in 2022. I think the higher figures we saw a couple of years ago were down to the extreme inflation at the time,” secretary-general of Dansk Folkehjælp Mirka Mozer told news wire Ritzau.
“I don’t think we should assume that a lower number this year means fewer people actually need a helping hand,” Mozer added.
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Swede says he got cold feet over grenade attack on Israeli embassy
A man hired for a grenade attack got cold feet at the last minute when he realised the target was the Israeli embassy in Denmark, he told a Copenhagen court, with the bombs finally being lobbed into the yard of a neighbouring house.
The 21-year-old Swede said he and an accomplice were given an address in the Danish capital they were supposed to attack.
“When I got there, I saw the guards, the flag, and I understood it was the Israeli embassy,” he told the court.
He said it was then too late to pull out of the plan, but after a string of phone calls with an unidentified intermediary, it was agreed that the grenades could be thrown into a neighbouring yard, which his co-accused did.
Two explosions were heard near the embassy on the night of October 2nd, 2024.
The other Swede on trial, an 18-year-old who was 16 at the time, has admitted to throwing the grenades.
He has also admitted shooting at the Israeli embassy in Stockholm the day before.
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Documentary exposes animal neglect at leading pig farms
A documentary which was aired last night revealed overcrowded, malnourished and neglected pigs at farms run by some of Denmark’s most influential farmers.
The Nordic country is among the world’s biggest pork exporters, and its industry is essential to the Danish economy.
The TV2 documentary, entitled Hvem passer på grisene? Afsløringer hos landbrugets top, roughly translated as “Who’s Caring for the Pigs? Revelations at the top of the agriculture industry” features hidden-camera footage filmed by animal rights activists in February and March at one of 14 farms run by Ulrik Bremholm.
Bremholm is vice chairman of the Danish Agriculture and Food Council and deputy chairman of the world’s biggest pork exporting company Danish Crown, a farmer’s cooperative.