Marginalisation and Copenhagen gang wars
Marginalisation and Copenhagen gang wars

Author(s): Pinar Yazgan, Therese Svensson
Subject(s): Social differentiation, Studies in violence and power, Migration Studies, Inter-Ethnic Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Marginalisation; Copenhagen gang wars; ghettos; North of Copenhagen; migrants; conflicts; social exclusion;
Summary/Abstract: In recent times, violent incidents have occurred between rival gangs in the so-called ‘ghettos’ of Copenhagen (Politiken.dk, 2008). These turf wars have mostly taken place between the local Hell’s Angels’ gang and various other gangs. Discussions related to the gang wars in Copenhagen first appeared in the media in 2007-2008, between the local MC gang ‘Hells Angels’ and the ‘Black Cobra’ gang, which consists mainly of ethnic minority members (Schmidt, 2009, 2011: 605). Gang wars have taken place in Nørrebro, which is an area in the North of Copenhagen, where the concentration of immigrants is the highest in the city. The encounters between gangs have had disastrous effects with severe impacts upon the general impressions of foreigners in Denmark (Nasser, 2010). This paper proposes that gang wars in Denmark can be explained by various levels of marginalisation through negative social capital and grounded political discourses preventing integration as opposed to promoting it. Specifically, this chapter highlights discourses in relation to the groups defined as deviant or ‘the minority group’ within the framework of marginalisation, and their integration into criminal capital as the negative side of social capital.

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