Supreme Danish Supreme Court deals blow to Christiania The Danish government won a legal battle yesterday against a famous freewheeling enclave that has remained mostly self-governing since its creation by squatters four decades ago.
The Supreme Court upheld a decision of a lower court from 2009 saying that the residents of Christiania, roughly 900 of them, have no irrevocable right to use the site as their home. The decision marks the end of a six-year legal standoff and means the government can continue with its plans to normalise the neighbourhood and tear down the ramshackle homes built at the site without permits. Residents say they will resist attempts to evict them from the area, which has become a major tourists draw for those curious about its counterculture lifestyle and liberal attitudes toward soft drugs. Christiania spokesman Thomas Ertman said that the court process was now finished and they had to now look to the future and sit down with the state to work out a negotiation for Christiania. Ertman said that a political solution was needed as the residents didn’t intend to move. Christiania was founded in 1971 when hippies moved into an abandoned naval base and began to build an alternative society painting their houses in psychedelic colours and trading and smoking hashish in the open, while authorities turned a blind eye. -- http://www.discountvouchers.co.uk/news/163733535.html Via InstaFetch -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sixties-L" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en.
