Danish police arrests hundreds

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Police in Denmark have arrested some 300 demonstrators in the capital, after a protest against the closure of a youth centre turned violent.

About 1,000 protesters in Copenhagen threw cobblestones, bottles and fireworks and erected barricades.

Police used teargas to try to break up the protests, comparing the scene on the streets to that of a "war zone".

The protesters are angry about orders for young squatters to leave a building occupied since 1982.

Local government sold the centre in 2000 and tension has been building since the sale.

"It was extremely violent," police spokesman Flemming Steen Munch said.

"It's been many years since we last had to use tear gas on the streets."

On Thursday, the group had held a peaceful demonstration to try to convince the city council to stop the eviction of the building's occupants.

Left-wing activists have been using the centre as a base for more than two decades.

Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten reported that one demonstrator was unconscious and that two police officers had been taken to hospital.