The government sees Christiania as a run down, crime ridden haven for drug dealers. It wants to improve the area through privatisation, forcing residents to buy the houses they currently occupy. If they don’t, the houses will be sold at market value. “We need to make sure this slumming way will end,” reasons government spokesman Ulrik Kragh. But that’s a prospect which fills residents with despair. “Christiania is totally opposed to market values,” explains long-time resident Nils Vest. If commercial values were to be imposed on Christiania, it would become just like everywhere else. “The government is making a sort of ideological crusade against everything and anything that could be a little bit left wing,” states resident Preban Kristensen. Where other attempts to drive the hippies out have failed, private ownership may finally succeed.

ABC Australia