Locals in Denmark’s Nyborg say they prefer the biker gang Hell’s Angels to the refugees that have been arriving to the town, after police said they would fight the bikers' intention to set up a base in the town.
Danish police believe that Hell’s Angels MC is a gang involved in organized crime, so they promised to pursue bikers and make sure they don’t feel welcome in Nyborg.
“We want to prevent the Hell’s Angels group from growing too fast when they settle in new places, and once they have settled - as in Nyborg - we prefer to prevent them from building a solid bastion and achieving operational status,” Fyens Stiftstidende newspaper cited Sten Skovgaard Larsen, chief superintendent of Funen police, as saying.
Such a reaction from the authorities is not new for the bikers - unlike the reaction of some Danes, who defended the Hell's Angels following the Fyens’ article. One of the readers’ comments was widely referred to by the local media as a sharp indication of double standards in European society.
“It’s almost comical. Five hundred ‘refugees’ are welcomed with flags and cheers and if any of the locals express concerns, people line up to call them repulsive racists. But five Hell’s Angels members – who keep to themselves – yeah, we should tar and feather them and chase them out of town,” reader Lars Thomsen wrote.
Bikers indicate that “they’re not happy” that the general public is comparing them with refugees. “It is not refugees' fault that they have to look for a safer and better life,” the biker group said in a press release. “The well-meaning citizens should instead direct their anger against those guilty of this unfortunate situation in Europe,” bikers believe, indicating that European and American politicians are responsible for the conflicts in Syria and Libya.
“However, we are exceedingly grateful that a majority of citizens who participated in the debate have defended us in relation to the police announcement that we should be hunted out of Nyborg. In this context we would like to point out: we usually try to keep to ourselves and we did not come to the city to commit crime,” the Hell’s Angels said.
The Hell’s Angels is the world’s most well-known motorcycle club and one of the largest along with Outlaws MC, Pagans MC and Bandidos MC. Police in several countries believe that HA are a criminal gang involved in things like drug dealing, racketeering and murder. In 2007 the “Altid Klar-81” (“Always Ready”) group was created in Denmark, which is considered to be an HA-associated gang. According to local media reports, the group was founded in order to fight immigrant street gangs for running the local hashish market.
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In 2008 a 19-year old Turk was killed by one of the AK81 members, another shooting that involved the same gang took place that year and resulted in one person injured. Other activities of HA in the Nordic countries also include possession of illegal weapons, which have been seized by Norwegian police from the club members in 2010, 2011 and 2013. Police also demanded the right to seize HA headquarters in Oslo in October 2013, as they believed that the house was a base for the group’s criminal activities in the region.