COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – The aging hippies who took over an abandoned naval base in Copenhagen more than 50 years ago and turned it into a bohemian community known as Christiania are seizing the community’s lucrative hashish market. They want to get rid of the criminals who are in control. Tearing up cobblestone streets and openly changing hands.
Over the years, there have been numerous attempts to stop illegal hashish sales, often ending in violent clashes between criminal gangs and police, only for the trade to resume soon after. On Saturday, residents will begin digging up Pusher Street, after which they will receive government funding that will be used to renovate the area.
Shortly after 10am, two children from Christiania, Emilia and Sally, lifted the first cobblestone from the infamous street in a symbolic act. As the heavy stone was guided out, the crowd of spectators who had gathered at the scene erupted in applause.
Denmark’s Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard, who attended the ceremony, said he believed the excavation of Pusher Street and the individual cobblestones had high symbolic value.
“For more than 40 years, Christiania and the illegal sale of drugs here have been a major problem for the established society,” Hummelgaard told Danish broadcaster TV2. “But now we have reached a stage where even Christians have had enough of (criminal) gangs.”
Residents of the free village Christiania work together to dig up cobblestones on Pusher Street in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Saturday, April 6, 2024. After the cobblestones are removed, new water pipes and new paving will be installed on Pusher Street, and nearby buildings will be demolished. It has been renovated. This is the first step in an overall plan to transform the hippie oasis into an integrated part of Denmark’s metropolitan area, but the “free state” spirit of creativity and community life should be maintained. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpics, via AP)
The plan is to create “a new Christiania without a criminal hashish market,” said Mette Prag, coordinator of the enclave’s new social housing project. Prag, who has lived in Christiania for 37 years, compared Christiania to a “village.”
“We don’t need gangs anymore,” said Hulda Mader, who has lived in Christiania for 40 years. She said that once the illegal trade stops, “someone may then sell hashish, but it won’t be public.”
After the cobblestones are removed, new water pipes and new paving will be installed on Pusher Street, and nearby buildings will also be renovated. This is the first step in an overall plan to transform the hippie oasis into an integrated part of Denmark’s metropolitan area, but the “free state” spirit of creativity and community life should be maintained.
Danish authorities have been strangling the downtown community for years.
In 1971, squatters took over an abandoned military installation and established a neighborhood that embraced the flower power ideals popular at a time when marijuana was free, government influence was limited, and there were no cars or police. did. Since then, successive Danish governments have wanted Christiania shut down, not least because the open sale of hashish often causes tensions.
1 dead, 4 injured in shooting in Copenhagen’s anarchist districthttps://t.co/Q30E5GxqG9
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 27, 2023
To begin with, the so-called Christians ignored the law, building houses without permission and ignoring utility bills. Outsiders could only enter a community if they were related to someone already living there.
Eventually residents were given the right to use the land, but not the right to own it. After more than four decades of wrangling with authorities, the state sold the 84-acre (24-hectare) enclave to a foundation owned by residents for 125.4 million kroner ($18.2 million) in 2011, giving them access to their homes. Management rights were granted. . There are currently nearly 800 adults and 200 children living there, and up to 25 percent of the residents are over 60, Plug said.
The following year, it was decided to construct public housing that could house up to 300 people. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027.
Plug said he wanted “young people, more families” to move in and actively participate in community activities to preserve the spirit of Christiania, which is home to buildings painted in psychedelic colors and stray dogs. .
Over the years, Christiania has become one of Copenhagen’s biggest tourist attractions, attracting both Danes and foreigners alike. Some people are angry about the open sale of hashish (authorities have tolerated it on Pusher Street for years), while others are buying marijuana. Christiania banned hard drugs in 1980.
March 1976, demonstration by residents of the Christiania community in Copenhagen. (Photo credit: Francois LOCHON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
In 2004, police began cracking down on drug-related operations (worth millions of dollars, police say) controlled by the Hells Angels and the outlawed Royal Family. Illegal sales resumed soon after, even though police arrested the sellers and fined customers.
Last August, drug-related tensions escalated after a turf war led to gunfire that left one man dead and several others injured.
Residents tried to stop sales on Pusher Street by demolishing dealers’ booths themselves, but they fought back. Residents blocked access to the street with a large shipping container, but masked men removed the container.
Fed up with criminals, residents said in August that it was “an important prerequisite” for the government to end organized hashish sales before Christiania received the 14.3 million kroner (approximately 210 million yen) earmarked for hashish sales. I decided that I had to do something. repair work.
Christiania is now appealing to the public to help dig up Pusher Street so that sales can be stopped once and for all and this community can remain an alternative and legitimate part of Copenhagen free of criminals. I hope I can.
Mader said with a smile, “You can come and eat cobblestones as a souvenir.”
1 dead, 4 injured in shooting in Copenhagen’s anarchist districthttps://t.co/Q30E5GxqG9
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 27, 2023
