Vicar accused of telling lies after the release of video footage of a police raid on a refugee shelter

The justice minister has, after seeing police-captured video footage of the eviction of Iraqi refugees from Brorson’s Church, accused the church’s vicar Per Ramsdal of lying about it.

Police removed the Iraqis, who are facing forcible repatriation to their homeland, from the church in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen on 13 August.

According to Ramsdal, 50 officers in riot gear carrying weapons and batons entered the church and surrounded the Iraqis in a standoff that caused 70,000 kroner worth of damage.

Justice Minister Brian Mikkelsen has disputed the vicar’s version of events after seeing the police footage.

‘There's no doubt that the vicar has given an untrue account to the public. I can see that the police did everything they could to ensure the action was carried out peacefully,’ Mikkelsen said to BT newspaper.

Immigration minister Birthe Rønn Hornbech has also questioned Ramsdal’s account, while Pia Kjærsgaard, who leads the Danish People’s Party, called on him to ‘apologise for his lies’.

Copenhagen Police released their own footage of the incident this weekend. It shows officers entering the church through an unlocked door in shirt sleeves and baseball caps, then approaching the Iraqi men, some of whom armed themselves with chairs and threatened to kill themselves, and urging them to be calm.

Female officers led the Iraqi women and children outside while male colleagues attempted to negotiate with the remaining Iraqis, before finally donning protective riot helmets after 45 minutes when glass was thrown at them.

The event sparked widespread protests after media footage showed police hitting and pepper spraying demonstrators who tried to prevent the police transporting the Iraqis away.