The Danish Supreme Court must assess the old ban on flags – Vårt Land
Denmark has a law from 1915 which forbids Danes to fly flags other than the Danish one, something which was meant to ensure Danish neutrality during the First World War.
The law still applies, and in June 2017 the penalty knocked on the door of the Hedegard family in Kolding. A neighbor had complained for several months that an American flag was hanging from their flagpole, and the police made it clear that they would be fined 2,500 kroner if they did not take the flag down.
The family refused to comply with the order and pointed to their “American culture”.
– I should have understood if it was a Nazi flag or IS flag, but I don’t understand this since it is an American flag, said Rikke Hedegard to newspaper West Coast of Jutland that gang.
The case ended up in court, where the family was acquitted first despite the fact that the prosecutor pointed to a similar case in 1934. Then it was about a Soviet flag, and the court ruled that the law from 1915 also applies in peacetime.
The case was then appealed, and the Hedegard family was found guilty of breaking the law. They did not receive any punishment, however, since the case had dragged on for a long time.
Well, the Danish Supreme Court has to make a final decision on whether the law from 1915 will soon become obsolete.
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