In Denmark a law was passed in January 2019 stating that, as a homeless person, you are not allowed to sleep together in groups anymore. It failed to define group, however, and any one of the country’s more than 6,000 homeless people can be arrested for sleeping on a piece of cardboard. This project, a digital webshop established by a Danish newspaper, helped the homeless to get together to fight the law. Since camping in front of a shop while waiting for it to open is alright, this webshop informs the homeless where the “pop-up shop sales” are, so that they can sleep in line waiting for it to open. Doing things this way, they are not breaking the law.

Björn Ståhl: “A bit of anarchy is sometimes needed for the greater good. I only wonder how many homeless people carry a smartphone or have an online presence …? But the PR effect seems big. Nice Danish initiative.”