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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Denmark: Politicians Threaten Christiania
Howard R. Knowles The Copenhagen Post
Friday 18 Jan 2002 The government has lost patience with the amount of criminal activity in Copenhagen's squatter community, Christiania - but is divided as to how to clean up thirty years of neglect. An alternative society or a haven for drugs -- a free state or a squatters paradise? However one characterises Christiania, the new government is making a concerted effort to rid the crime ridden 'alternative society' of the biker gangs, drug dealers and stolen goods merchants who illegally contribute to an annual 'tax-free' turnover of over DKK 200m -- but are split as to whether to use bulldozers or kid gloves. After years of turning a blind eye to the activities on 'Pusher Street', the main thoroughfare through Christiania, where hash dealers openly display and sell thousands of grams of hash every day, politicians have now targetted the so-called Info House. Info House is a building constructed last year and suspected of being a haven for organised crime controlled by biker gangs. Despite initial demands to bulldoze the building, which is virtually isolated from the rest of Christiania by a three metre high fence topped with barbed wire and video surveillance, the Conservative Party has seemingly backed down this week and has now stated it is willing to tolerate Christiania's existence -- as long as residents adhere to '...the normal law and order of the rest of society' -- that is, pay for electricity, water, services and get rid of the drug dealers. However, even law-abiding residents of the 'alternative society' are divided as to how to tackle the Info House problem, which, as a principal supplier of drugs to dealers on Pusher Street, is a major contributor to the illegal economy that keeps the Christiania wheels turning -- including the unlicensed bars and restaurants that are willing recipients of drug money. After being a virtual no-go area for the police, whose infrequent visits have often ended in retreat under a hail of stones from disgruntled 'Christianites', residents are now looking to the authorities to clean up the mess. 'This Info House has become a thorn in our side,' says long time resident Mette Prag. 'It must be up to the police to get rid of it, if they are convinced it shelters criminals and organised crime.' However, she refused to entertain the Conservative Party proposition that Christiania should become totally 'drug-free' and legal if it wishes to survive. 'There will always be hash in Christiania, because the majority of us out here like to smoke it. If the government really wants to get rid of the criminal element, let it legalise hash. When the illegal proceeds disappear, the idiots will follow.' Minister of Defence, Svend Aage Jensby, has given Christiania's 'contact' group one week to propose a solution to the 'Info House' problem.
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