In Anarchic Corner of Copenhagen, Police and Dealers Play Cat and Mouse

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/world/europe/christiania-freetown-copenhagen.html

by mshenfield • 8 years ago

34 54 8 years ago

busterarm6• 8 years ago

One of my greatest regrets in life is not being able to take pictures inside Christiania. It has some of the greatest blow ups (graffiti) I've ever seen. 10 years ago it was absolutely mindblowing wildstyles.

It's hard to wrap your head around just how sketchy the place is though, even with the open-air drug-dealing going on. Honestly it reminded me of Times Square in the early 80s with the sex replaced with more drugs. There is a large, almost exclusively muslim criminal element there and Christiania's residents depend on their money.

drsim2• 8 years ago

You can take photographs throughout Christiana, just not in the small area called 'Pusher Street' for the reason mentioned in the article.

There is a large, almost exclusively muslim criminal element there and Christiania's residents depend on their money

Source? I have never heard Muslim and Christiania mentioned in the same breath before. I live in Copenhagen, near to Christiania.

AndyMcConachie• 8 years ago

I also take issue with that statement. I've been to Christiania 3 times as a tourist and the drug market looks about as diverse as Copenhagen in general. Also, I've never been able to figure out who is a tourist like me, and who is dealing drugs or acting as a lookout. Nor can one tell the religion of a person simply by looking at them.

mirimir2• 8 years ago

I don't recall dealers being predominately Muslim. That sounds like anti-immigrant propaganda.

busterarm6• 8 years ago

I have never heard Muslim and Christiania mentioned in the same breath before.

Really? The Bosnian immigrant who shot the cops talked about in the article had ties to Millatu Ibrahim and was claimed by Isis after the shooting. It was in the news.

Is this really the first time you're hearing this?

ahje• 8 years ago

I lived quite close to Christiania for a few years, and did visit quite often. My observations were that there are definitely people with Middle-Eastern looks amongst the dealers, but there are also people of other ethnicities. The dominant skin colour was white.

That being said, try visiting Fælleskøkkenet a Friday night. There will usually be a lot of Arabic-speakers.

Christiania does, at least it did back then, make money from the sales. Occasionally, the dealers would have specific days where all the proceeds went to the Christianian community.

I've never heard about photography being forbidden anywhere but on Pusher Street itself.

I haven't been there for five years though. Things might have changed.

Fnoord4• 8 years ago

The word 'drugs' is a stretch. Its mainly just marihuana ('just' as for me that's normal as I am Dutch and it is decriminalised here though I myself don't use it). Harddrugs are not acceptable. This sign makes that more than clear in Danish and English [1].

To put that in perspective (I already mentioned marihuana decriminalisation in The Netherlands):

1) Danes go to Sweden to buy cheap liquor because alcoholic beverages in Denmark are more expensive than in Sweden (EDIT: I stand corrected, the other way around, thank you @clan). Same with Danes living near the German border. Alcohol, if abused, is a harddrug.

2) Going down more south of Europe is Portugal who have decriminalised drugs [2].

Wikipedia has more info on Christiania [3].

Denmark is an interesting country for a variety of reasons; they actually have a startup scene as well, and are aiming to be self reliant with regards to electricity.

[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Chritian...

[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/05/why-h...

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania

clan• 8 years ago

Wrong. Swedes go to Denmark for alcohol[1]. But yes - Germany is cheaper.

[1] https://www.ft.com/content/6040e408-ed33-11e6-ba01-119a44939...

olavk7• 8 years ago

There is not actually a lot of crime in Christiana, except for the hash trade. For harder drugs, prostitution etc. you will have to go to other parts of Copenhagen. And you can take pictures everywhere in Christiania except for the short stretch of street called Pusher Street.

stirkac• 8 years ago

Haha been there while working for Startup based in Copenhagen, that place is bonkers. Go if you have a chance!

mkborregaard• 8 years ago

To be exact, the only thing sold there is hash, though the article insists on using the blanket term "drugs". The reason it's sold there is that the commune has decided that it's unfair to label hash as a drug (unless nicotine or alcohol are also labelled as drugs, which they are in a sense of course). Christiania is the most drug-free area in all of Copenhagen.

busterarm6• 8 years ago

https://www.bt.dk/krimi/klar-tiltale-hashkoebmaend-ville-pla...

You are right for the most part though. The cocaine dealers are around Vesterbro.

Symbiote5• 8 years ago

I'm told if you want other drugs, they aren't sold on Pusher Street itself, but on the side streets. Someone will direct you.

(I really am just told this, although it's from people I'd expect to know.)

toomanybeersies2• 8 years ago

That's not unique to Copenhagen or Christiania in particular.

In any city it's easy to find drugs if you want to. Just don't look like a cop and you'd be surprised at what you can find if you ask around.

simonsaidit5• 8 years ago

Don't try to ask that in Christania you might end up in trouble or atleast get an angry answer. Drugs aren't sold on the side streets either. They are sold everywhere outside christania like by the central station. Take if from someone who spend every day there. Got a friend who was drunk and was doing cocaine in one of the establishments there and when it was discovered he got beaten up and banned from the place.

olavk7• 8 years ago

I assume those guys in the know was talking about the side streets outside Christiania? While drug trade can happen everywhere it is actually pretty controlled in Christiania because it is a tight-knit community which is self-policing. If you want to buy drugs (besides Hash) in Copenhagen you go to the sketchy areas behind the Central Station.

nextstep• 8 years ago

You can also buy cannabis flowers in Christiania.

kristofferR• 8 years ago

It's a shame that NYT visited on a dark overcast day. I've been to Christiana a few times and on good summer days it's absolutely amazing, full of greenery, colorful art and happy people just enjoying life.

mothsonasloth2• 8 years ago

Went to Christiania, it's a complete dump filled with weed dealers, happy pants stalls and people touting Far Eastern mysticism. The only thing that's curious is the slow decay of the buildings and the ageing hippy / anarchist population still trying to cling to the 1970s.

I was hoping to find some form of libertarianism there but instead all you see is the ubiquitous forms of leftism.

Also none of the cafes accepted bitcoin...

/sigh

Symbiote5• 8 years ago

I lived very close by for a few months, and now live a little further away in Copenhagen.

There are a few nice places (cafes etc), but I mostly agree. Without the draw of drugs, the arty/anarchist/squat/whatever areas of other European cities are much more interesting -- populated by artists etc rather than dealers.

I thought the litter (discarded food wrappers etc) summed it up. An anarchist/hippie commune with green ideals, which can't somehow arrange picking the plastic out of the bushes.

(The former Kunsthaus Tacheles in Berlin was the best example.)

cyborgx7• 8 years ago

Libertarianism is a word coined by leftists and coopted by capitalists.

simonsaidit5• 8 years ago

you went the wrong places.

mothsonasloth2• 8 years ago

yes, you are right. I should have never went to Christiania.

kachurovskiy• 8 years ago

I was there in June 2016 with my wife and kid, the place felt very uncomfortable with very sketchy and aggressive looking folks all around. Groups of police officers were sitting in small buses in the bushes. I definitely wouldn't want to have such a place in my city.

simonsaidit5• 8 years ago

I think you took the wrong tour. Christania is so much else than pusher-street which granted have shady looking kids setting weed but that's what you get for criminalizing it.. the ones you need to fear there is the police. Christania is a place full of different nationalities and people which are very open and sometimes alternative. Its one of the nicest green areas where you can just go and enjoy a conversation, have a cup of coffee or play some backgammon. they have vegetarian restaurants, non-alcohol cafes, stand up club, some of the best music venues, jazz clubs. they have open air concerts throughout the summer. they have skating and other sports. you can practically sit anywhere and start a conversation with someone. try doing that outside in the city and people will probably look strange at you. is very kid friendly. my toddler can run free around. Its where a lot of us goes to get away from the "normal" city life.

victorjansson• 8 years ago

This article and some HN comments paints an unfair picture of Christiana. I go there every now and then because of the nice vibe, lush green environments and musical events. No idea why there are comments about arabic majority. The place is full on european or scandic. In the end they sell cannabis, something that is widely used and partly legal in the US.

Cthulhu_• 8 years ago

Makes me wonder whether there's an Agenda behind this article. Who's paying for it? Who's behind it?

Symbiote5• 8 years ago

I'm a European immigrant to Copenhagen, and by chance lived on Christianshavn for the first few months, so I asked many Danes what they thought of Christiania.

There was a wide range of views.

Older people (40+) tended either to moderately disapprove, or to be very tolerant. Younger people (25-35) were more extreme; they either strongly defended the place as you do, or were definitely against it. I haven't asked enough youths to be able to generalize. People from Copenhagen were often less tolerant than those from Funen or Jutland.

I think it depends when people last saw it, how often, and in what circumstances they visited.

Going on a wet November evening just to buy drugs isn't great, it feels dodgy. Warm summer evenings are nice -- just like everywhere else in Denmark. Pusher Street felt very tense a couple of years ago; I was approached by "security" for having a camera over my shoulder, but this summer it's very relaxed, since the stalls are open and no longer covered in camouflage netting.

That cannabis is legal-ish in some of the US isn't especially relevant. It makes as much sense to compare a Danish pub during American prohibition.

matwood• 8 years ago

I go there every now and then because of the nice vibe, lush green environments and musical events.

I visited Copenhagen last year and went to Christiana to see this vibe, greenness and artists. Instead I mainly saw teenagers drinking, and lots of litter. Another comment below mentioned that the legalization of drugs will hopefully bring Christiana back to what it used to be since it will not longer be the place to go get drugs.

simonsaidit5• 8 years ago

Christania is a big place, most tourists just take the quick tour through pusher-street and a few other places. You should have spend a bit of time there with a local. Been coming there for 20 years and i keep discovering new things and people there that amazes me. The greenness and artists is there as well if you know where to go.

Fnoord4• 8 years ago

The best places to get illegal drugs are places you and I and most other people don't know about.

olavk7• 8 years ago

I think it is really muddying the issue to conflate hash with "drugs". And I do think it was part of the original vision of Christiania that people should be allowed to smoke hash if they were so inclined. It was conceived as a "free town", not as a clean tourist attraction or art fair.

Symbiote5• 8 years ago

One reason the police cannot carry out more forceful raids, Mr. Laugesen said, is because they do not want to shock the crowds of tourists who come to gawk, and buy.

Wait until a wet Tuesday evening in October, and the police will use more force. I saw this a few times when I lived very near Christiania; it was around the time they had the problem with the serious criminal.

I'd be more tolerant of the drug market if they refused to sell cannabis to under 18s, but the dealers will sell to anyone.

bonesss• 8 years ago

Assuming legalization continues its progress: I'm looking forward to Christiania being able to return to its artistic vision without the drug tourism.

A legal, age-verified, purchasing process would help a lot of places get out from under the crushing weight of tourist drug traffic, while also ensuring safety and product quality.

olavk7• 8 years ago

It is really muddying the issue to call hash "drugs".

lancebeet• 8 years ago

People who are interested in the history of Christiania, how it was almost destroyed by heroin in the 1970s (resulting in the current ban on hard drugs), and the lives of children who grew up in the early days of the freetown might want to watch the documentary Christianias Børn.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7584234/

simonsaidit5• 8 years ago

when police comes by and does a raid, weed is being sold again 10 minutes later.. that's how its been for 40 years. police use it as a practice ground and often escalates conflicts to get the new trainees some more realistic stressful situations as not much else is going on in Denmark. its the most calm place when police are not around. i come there almost every day, even after i quit smoking.. it just has so much to offer. last year my Norwegian friend came by for a sandwich as police raided the place and some kids threw rocks back at them so the police grabbed my friend eating his sandwich as a shield.

In Anarchic Corner of Copenhagen, Police and Dealers Play Cat and Mouse

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