CHRISTIANIA, Denmark (CN) — On a breezy recent afternoon, a small crowd milled casually through Freetown Christiania’s center. While technically a neighborhood of Copenhagen, Christiania has operated semi-independently since the 1970s, making it a well-known alternative community.
That afternoon, about half of the neighborhood’s shops and cafés were open. So were the weed vendors, who operate stands along Pusher Street (no photos allowed).
Using cut-out cardboard boxes, the vendors barely hid their illegal goods. The lack of discretion was somewhat surprising: Just days ago, Copenhagen police raided and shut down this place, hoping to signal to criminal gangs here that the days of open drug-dealing are over.
It isn’t just police growing tired of open drug sales on Pusher Street. As violent groups like the banned Loyal to Familia gang have taken over the local drug scene, some Christiania residents want to get rid of the street — literally.
This Saturday, April 6, neighbors plan to physically remove the cobblestone bricks that make up Pusher Street. Supporters of the plan say the area needs drastic change and see digging up the street as a symbolic step in the right direction.
“If we don’t make permanent changes, nothing will happen,” said Mette Prag, a Christiania resident who is helping to organize the demolition. “It is important for us that Christiania reclaims its space. We will not tolerate violence or people [who] come from outside and take control.”
Marijuana has always been a part of Christiania, an independent and rebellious hippie community of around 1000 people that was first established in the early 1970s. For decades, the neighbor’s “herb market” remained an institution in Copenhagen’s cultural scene despite sporadic police raids.
While criminals have been in and out of Christiania for decades, Pusher Street has recently been dominated by the two rival gangs: Loyal to Familia and the Hells Angels. The violence reached a boiling point last year, when a gangland shooting left five people wounded and a 30-year-old man dead. That’s on top of at least two other gang-related killings in both 2021 and 2022.
Since then, public trust in Christiania has fallen, Prag said. So too, reportedly, have visitor numbers. And yet through it all, the weed market has stayed open.
Following last year’s shooting, Freetown residents decided at a public meeting to shut down Pusher Street.
They asked for political resources and help to do so. In a Danish-language press release, residents acknowledged they “do not have the resources or power to close Pusher Street ourselves.”
The request came amid other efforts to rein in Pusher Street. On multiple occasions, Danish authorities have introduced special penalty zones in the area.
Rules were tightened again in January, when Copenhagen police announced that people caught with weed in Christiania would face prison time after the first offense. But in an area defined to some extent by rule-breaking, efforts to enforce the law have not always panned out.
Pusher Street used to be filled with locals selling small quantities of marijuana, said Flemming Flamingo, a longtime resident who was tending the “New Forum” communication office for the neighborhood.
Stricter laws, including higher fines and prison penalties, over time pushed the “little man out of the market” and let gangs in, Flamingo said.
“Selling weed suddenly went from soft crime to hardcore crime,” he said. “The vibe is a lot tougher on the street today.”
As Flamingo sees it, tougher rules on marijuana have introduced perverse incentives in Christiania — making the risk of dealing “so high that only established gang members will take it.” An average Dane, he noted, would naturally be devastated to receive a long-term prison sentence.
He compared the situation to the United States during Prohibition, when organized gangs took over the alcohol market. Flamingo, who smokes himself, refuses to support the criminal networks and buys from a friend instead.
Nonetheless, Flamingo says he is looking forward to constructive changes on Pusher Street.
After residents tear up its stones, new pipe and cable connections could make room for new shops and art spaces. Completely rebuilding the street with a new design could foster workshops and cultural initiatives, feeding the creative spirit that has always characterized Christiania, he said.
But the customer base for marijuana won’t just go away, and residents fear that “dealers will just move outside Christiania and operate in regular streets near schools and homes,” Flamingo said. “Which is a shame, because the idea back in the day was to centralize it in one place.”
Freetown residents have for years organized campaigns to legalize cannabis on a national level. Many residents and regular visitors support a free weed market for both recreational and medical purposes.
One such resident is Joker (like the character in Batman, he explained), who first moved to Christiania in 1989. He expressed sadness about the violent incidents, calling them unacceptable because they have contributed to a sense of insecurity for many people in the neighborhood.
Even still, Joker is convinced the only viable solution is for Denmark to legalize cannabis. By continuing and even ramping up enforcement in Christiania, Danish politicians are “directly supporting criminal gangs,” he said.
Joker argued marijuana could have benefits for Danish society. “The cannabis plant can contribute to our welfare society,” he said. “Local non-criminals could profit on the products and take control of it instead of the gangs.” If the weed disappears, he wonders what would become of Christiania. The answer might come after Saturday, when the decades-old community plans to finally tear up Pusher Street.
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