Commune raided

last updated 8 January 2015

Copenhagen

Danish police made good this week on their pledge to stop the hashish trade at Denmark’s most famous commune, Christiania. Drugs are illegal in Denmark, but police tended to ignore the sale of hashish in Christiania, until last year, when they said the trade must end. The 84-acre enclave, an abandoned 18th-century army barracks in Copenhagen, has been a counterculture haven since a group of hippies started squatting there, in 1971. This week, more than 50 commune residents were arrested for drug dealing. In the past year, nearly 1,000 tons of hash, worth $7.5 million, have been seized.