Denmark’s top court to rule on ‘parallel societies’ after ‘non-western’ people evicted

Government claims removal of former residents of housing complex in Helsingør is unrelated to their ethnicity

Denmark’s supreme court is expected to rule on whether the state’s classification of residents with “non-western” backgrounds is covered by racial discrimination law.

The appeal by residents who were evicted from Nøjsomhed-Sydvej in Helsingør, a city north of Copenhagen, could have far-reaching implications for others who have been forced out of their homes by the controversial legislation previously known as the “ghetto law”. The government now refers to affected neighbourhoods as “parallel societies”.