As the squatters awoke on the second day, they found themselves surrounded by an army of police. During the night, the Copenhagen police force had mustered over 400 men in riot gear. But at the same time, hundreds of citizens and many news reporters had also made their way to Ryesgade. The police had been planning to storm the barricades at dawn, but the presence of so many noncombatants people in the area, many of whom had made their way right up to the barricades and were now talking with the squatters, made their plans impossible. It was decided that the attack would have to be called off until the area just outside the obstacles was under firm police control and could be evacuated of all those not actively resisting.
