Denmark’s supreme court to rule on Danes’ right to fly foreign flags
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Denmark’s supreme court will rule on whether citizens should be allowed to fly a foreign flag after a couple were ordered to take down their star-spangled banner.
The hearing will be the final chapter in what has turned into a saga for Martin and Rikke Hedegard, who were first told to take down the American flag in 2017.
According to Danish law, people are allowed to fly the flag of another nation in public only if they get special permission from authorities. And even then, a Danish flag at least equal in size needs to be erected next to it.
The Hedegards came to the attention of the authorities when they hoisted the US flag to convey their enthusiasm for rockabilly culture, according to a report in the JydskeVestkysten newspaper.
But a month or so later, a neighbour made a complaint to the local police, who ordered the couple to take down the flag or face a fine.
Law dates back to the 1800s
The law dates back to a royal decree from 1854, which was reaffirmed by the ministry of justice in 1915, when it was intended to affirm Danish neutrality in the First World War.
The case has since slowly made its way through the Danish court system, with judges in disagreement over whether a royal decree from the mid-19th century still has the force of law in modern Denmark.
A district court in the region of Kolding, 144 miles west of Copenhagen, acquitted the Hedegards of the crime, arguing that the flag ban was no longer legally binding.
However, that ruling was overturned by the high court last November.
Exceptions to the flag-raising rules allow Danes to raise the flags of the Faroe Islands and Greenland, both Danish territories.
Danes may also fly the flags of other Nordic nations, the EU flag and the UN flag, according guidelines from the country’s ministry of justice.
