Christiania it’s a self-managed neighborhood within the city of Copenhagenin Denmark. It has existed since 1971when a group of hippies he occupied the area and founded a community. The Danish government tolerated the lawless neighborhood and over the years found various compromises with the inhabitants. The latter have established rules different from those in force in Denmark. For example, private cars are prohibited but the sale of soft drugs is permitted.
The control of the drug market has created serious problems and the inhabitants have had to ask for help from the authorities to fight the criminal gangs. Recently Pusher Streetthe main road, was closed, without this causing Christiania to lose its characteristics as a self-managed neighborhood.
What is Christiania
The Freetown of Christiania is a neighborhood of Copenhagen partially self-managed by the community that lives there. The neighborhood occupies a surface area of 7.7 hectares of the Christianshavn district and includes part of the Copenhagen ramparts and a former military area.

The neighborhood matters between 850 and 1,000 inhabitants and is administered on the basis of aanarchist and pacifist ideologyand does not recognize the laws of the Danish state. The inhabitants observe the rules that they themselves have given themselves, including the freedom to sell soft drugs, but also the ban on hard drugs, weapons and private cars.
Youth countercultures at the origins of Christiania
The origins of Christiania can be traced back to youth countercultures of the 60slike that of the hippiesborn in the United States and then spread to many other countries. The hippies they adopted one nonconformist lifestyle: they used drugs, preached the return to nature and community life. Furthermore, they did not recognize the values of “bourgeois” society and, in a period of strong international tensions, they cultivated pacifist ideals, summarized in the mottos “put flowers in your cannons” and “make love, don’t make war”.
Alongside that of the hippies, other countercultures with similar ideals arose. One of the most widespread was that of provosliterally “provocateurs”, born 1965 in the Netherlands. THE provos they were characterized by the practice of inducing the police to react violently to non-violent actions. Christiania was born within these youth countercultures.
The founding of Christiania and the reaction of the Danish government
The Free City of Christiania was founded on September 26, 1971 by a group of young people led by I try Jacob Ludvigsen. The group occupied the Bådsmandsstræde barracks and announced the birth of the community. The initiative was successful and people arrived from various countries hippies and other young people intending to settle in the neighborhood.
The Danish government, while not recognizing the occupation, in fact he tolerated it. In 1976 the Ministry of Defense denounced the occupiers, but decided not to intervene before having prepared a plan for the redevelopment of the area, effectively allowing the inhabitants to remain in the area they had occupied.

The residents, for their part, did not recognize the laws of the Danish state, but created their own rules. The most obvious difference is the tolerance towards drugswhich are prohibited by Danish law but are sold freely in Christiania, to the point that their presence is one of the distinctive characteristics of the neighborhood.
However, in 1979, following the deaths of some citizens from heroin overdoses, the inhabitants decided to ban hard drugs and for about forty days they patrolled the streets looking for drug dealers, without however managing to completely eliminate heroin.
However, the trade in cannabis and hashish continued freely, particularly around Christiania’s central street, known as Pusher Street.
Gang fights
The inhabitants of Christiania had to cope with various public order problemsparticularly as some gangs have tried to take control of the drug market.
In the 1980s the neighborhood was the scene of a fight between two motorcycle gangs, i Bullshit they Hells Angels. The former managed to take control of the drug market in 1984, but three years later, after the discovery of the body of a man, the residents reacted and, together with the police, managed to expel the group. A new rule was introduced in Christiania: motorcycle gangs were banned.
The events of recent years
THE Christiania’s relations with the Danish government they were fluctuating. In 2002 a farcical event took place: the government asked to make the kiosks on Pusher Street selling cannabis less visible and the managers, ironically, covered them with camouflage sheets.
The sale of drugs has continued, but has created serious problems because the inhabitants have not managed to defeat the gangs who intend to control the market. In 2005, a man was shot and killed in a drug-related shooting.
In 2007 they took place instead violent clashes between residents and police. The police entered the neighborhood to demolish a building and were met with a harsh reaction from the residents, who set up barricades to defend themselves. The affair strengthened the position of the political forces who called for the dismantling of Christiania. In 2011, however, a new one was achieved compromise between the government and residentswho partially purchased, through a special fund, the land on which the neighborhood stands.

Christiania today
A recent event has changed the face of Christiania. In August 2023, a man was killed and others were injured in a shooting. The inhabitants, in agreement with the Danish authorities, have decided to close and dismantle Pusher street. Demolition began in April 2024.
Christiania, however, has not lost its characteristics and today is a colorful neighborhoodwhich is also characterized by the presence of works of art on the streets. The sale of soft drugs continues to be tolerated. Also for this reason, Christiania attracts many touriststo the point of being the fourth most visited Danish site. In the neighborhood, full of music venues and clubs, beer is also produced, including cannabis-flavored beer.
The rules banning cars, hard drugs and violence are still in force and Christiania continues to be a almost unique social experimentalthough the inhabitants often have to compromise with the Danish authorities.