In In 1991, 321 stateless Palestinians from Lebanon entered Denmark and asked for asylum. Their applications were rejected by the Danish Commission on Asylum Seekers. Then, nearly 100 of them occupied a church in Copenhagen. The popular rock singer Kim Larsen gave a concert in support of the asylum seekers. But the conservative Minister of Justice, Hans Engell, was adamant that the Palestinians should not be let in. Finally, a majority in the Danish Parliament overruled the conservative-liberal minority government and passed in 1992 a special law granting the group asylum in Denmark.
Two-Thirds of the Original Group Convicted
Now more than than thirty years later, the record shows that of the 321 asylum seekers 204, or almost two-thirds, have in the period 1992–2019 been convicted of some criminal offence. Of those 204, 71 have been sentenced to prison, sometimes suspended, and the rest to paying fines of more than €200; smaller fines than that are not included in the numbers. Of the 321 asylum seekers, 176 are living off government, mostly by ‘early retirement’ (122 persons, a euphemism for being unemployable). At the end of 2019, 270 in this initial group of 321 are still living in Denmark. Of course, there are individuals from this group who have worked hard and done well in Denmark.
One-Third of the Second Generation Convicted
One of the activists fighting in 1992 for the group, Fathi El-Abed, admits that the numbers are bleak, but he points out that the situation seems to be somewhat better for the 999 children from the group. Of this second generation, 337, or one-third, had in 2019 been convicted of criminal activities, and mostly been fined: 132 had been sentenced to prison, suspended or not. Again, of the 999 children, 372 were receiving government aid, but in the case of 194 of them, the aid was connected with training programmes of some kind.
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