Gang violence puts freedoms of Christiania in peril

The 40-year history of the open cannabis trade on “Pusher Street ” in the heart of the anarchist Christiania neighbourhood of Copenhagen could be over as the city’s mayor said she was willing to shut it down over the commune’s fears about rising gang violence

- Daniel Boffey

Christiania is a self-proclaimed autonomous commune in the Danish capital that has been allowed effectively to run itself as a “social experiment” since the 1970s despite periodic threats of a clean-up by national governments.

At its heart is Pusher Street, where stalls operated by locals openly sell cannabis. But ever-worsening violence in the “green light ” district, as organised criminal gangs have moved in and vied for dominance, has prompted concerns over residents’ safety.

The mayor of Copenhagen, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, warned in an interview with the Ekstra Bladet newspaper that the violence has to end and offered to close Pusher Street’s drug trade down if the 1,000 people living in the Christiania commune agree.