A police crackdown on climate protesters in Copenhagen in which hundreds were arrested was preplanned and apparently without justification, according to an Australian eyewitness.
Simon Sheikh, national director of the progressive Australian lobby group Get Up, watched the crackdown from his apartment - and has exclusive video footage of it.
Mr Sheikh said the marchers were peacefully making their way through the bohemian district of Christianshavn on Saturday afternoon when the police moved in.
"At a preplanned time they ran with full riot gear straight at women, children and families," Mr Sheikh told AAP. "We were taken aback."
The massive march was on its way from the centre of Copenhagen to the Bella Centre, where the UN climate conference is being held. Police estimate 30,000 people went on the march while organisers say it was 100,000.
Mr Sheikh said the police presence had been building up in Christianshavn all day. When the police moved on the marchers, they separated out a group of about 350, pushing some into shopfronts. Some marchers were thrown to the ground, according to Mr Sheikh.
"We were surprised because they were protesters who were simply calling for a fair treaty here at Copenhagen. It's sad to see police react in the way they did."
He said marchers chanted "binding treaty now", while their supporters, who were outside the police cordon, chanted "let them go".
As AAP saw from within the police cordon, protesters had their hands bound and police made them sit on the pavement. It was a bitterly cold evening. The marchers were taken away slowly in police vans, in small groups. Some were still sitting on the ground three hours after the incident. Ambulance officers were helping a protester who appeared to have a broken arm. There was a large contingent of police and police vehicles.
Get Up's apartment is on the fourth floor of a building overlooking the street where the incident took place, Amagerbrogade.
Mr Sheikh said the group was filming the march to show its members in Australia what was happening in Copenhagen.
A 21-year-old protester called Leah told AAP the incident was sparked by police moving in on a section of the march, apparently for no reason. One person threw a stone in response to this, which she said did not hit police or a window.
Leah said police then arrested up to 400 people. "The police came and took all of the group, for sure they didn't do anything," said the Danish student, who did not want to give her surname. "(The police) were just waiting for something to happen to take all of them."
Leah escaped arrest but at least 10 of her friends were taken away. "Nothing happened and this is what made me really really angry."
Leah said it was not fair to make the protesters sit on the pavement for hours because it was very cold. The temperature was forecast to hit minus four degrees Celsius on Saturday night.
It appears police were concerned about some protesters who were dressed in black and were believed to favour more direct action such as breaking windows. But when AAP went behind the police cordon at Christianshavn, the protesters detained and sitting on the pavement were not dressed in black, and there did not appear to be any broken windows.
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