The riots that have plagued the Danish capital have me confused, or at least the news reports do. It seems as though people are upset that the government evicted some squatters from a building. The building was sold 6 years ago, and the authorities got around to evicting them just now. Apparently, the people feel that it is “theirs” because they have been using it for so long. What is confusing me is that the news reports keep referring to the squatters and protesters as “anarchists.” I’m pretty damn sure that they are not political anarchists since they base their world view on strong property rights. It sounds more like the people that have been using the building feel a sense of entitlement (as proven by their “demand” for another building to replace this one, free of charge of course) and are surprised that the authorities would do something like this. I doubt that this (the riots) would ever happen in the US, there just isn’t enough sympathy for people taking someone’s property… It must be a European thing I wouldn’t understand.
Isaac