Police moved in about 1:00 a.m. against an estimated 1,000 mainly teenage demonstrators, some hurling petrol bombs and stones. They said a hard core in masks erected barriers and set fire to these and to cars, smashed shop windows and vandalized a school before melting away.
Police also braced for a possible third night of violence on Saturday.
"We arrested 188 people during the night and a further 90 this morning," said a police spokesman. The figure brought to 500 the total of those taken into police custody since the trouble began on Thursday night.
The spokesman said the Saturday arrests had been made during house searches in the center of the Danish capital to track down foreigners taking part in the disturbances. By Saturday at least 21 foreigners, including a number of young Germans, had been arrested.
Among those arrested on Thursday were 17 foreigners from France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Lithuania, New Zealand and the United States.
Many had still managed to slip into the country later despite frontier checks to deter suspected would-be demonstrators en route to Copenhagen out of solidarity with the Danish protest.
Calm was restored after the night of troubles which spread from the Noerrebro to the Christianshavn districts near Christiania, an area frequented by socially marginalized groups.
One arrested man was taken to hospital with injuries.
The demonstrators, some as young as 12, were angry at a dawn raid by police on Thursday to evict squatters from the Ungdomshuset, a haven for rebels, punks and squatters since the 1980s when the city of Copenhagen gave the group permission to move into the youth center.
The Ungdomshuset was recently sold to the Christian group Fadershuset, which requested the eviction of the youths.
An August 2006 court ruling ordered the occupants to be evicted from the center, which they insist belongs to them.
The building has been a popular hang-out for Copenhagen's alternative society, serving as a venue for concerts, plays and debates. Big stars such as Icelandic pop artist Bjoerk have performed at the venue.
"They say it's the fault of a minority," said one 16-year-old. "But that's crazy... we're erecting barricades and setting fire to trash cans to express our despair at authorities who won't provide any space for people outside the norms of society."
