The Association of Danish Restaurants & Cafés (DRC) has held a meeting today with owners in order to decide a next step in combatting the problem of extortion in clubs, bars and pubs.

The initiative came after an incident two weeks ago in which the owner of the Café Viking in Copenhagen refused to pay protection money and received threats. Later in the evening her windows were smashed.

After publishing her experience in the media, support for 67-year-old Jane Pedersen has been overwhelming, with over 25,000 people expressing their support for both Pedersen and her café on Facebook.

DRC, which has 1,550 members throughout Denmark, convened the meeting, attended by some 25 Copenhagen owners, the police and local council, in order to give advice on how to handle future problems. In order to map the extent of protection rackets in Denmark, the organisation is to send out questionnaires, to which owners can answer anonymously.

“We want to find out whether there are problems elsewhere in the country. We believe that is the case,” says Jørgen Kønigshøfer of the DRC, adding a similar problem in Esbjerg previously had been handled by owners and others speaking openly of the problems and supporting each other.

“This is like an iceberg,” Kønigshøfer tells Politiken.dk after Monday’s meeting ended. “There’s a lot under the surface. We believe this is a major problem and there are many who don’t dare speak of the problems if they have been subjected to extortion,” he adds.

“This is a very serious problem, and when the media has gone home it is still top ptiority for us,” he concludes.

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