Was in Christiania, Kopenhagen, many years ago. Then it was said they were going to close it down. What happened with it? Is it still the same neighbourhood as before? Has tolerance in Denmark changed with new rightist government? Please I would apreciate as many details as possible about the actual situation, status and life in Christiania, if it still exists..Thanks|||It%26#039;s still there in the same location. They have a website: http://www.christiania.org
It%26#039;s in Danish, however.
In 2004, the Danish government passed a law abolishing the collective and treating its 900 members as individuals. Beginning in the summer of 2005, a series of protests have been staged by Christiania members. During the same time, Danish police have made frequent sweeps of the area.
The Christiania Caf茅 Maanefiskeren installed an outdoor countboard of police patrols on Christiania in November 2005. In the summer of 2006 this passed the 1000th patrol (about 4鈥? patrols a day). These patrols normally consist of 6 to 20 police officers, often dressed in combat uniform and some times with police dogs.
In January 2006, the government proposed that Christiania would be turned into a residential community adding condominiums for 400 new residents. Current residents, now paying DKK 1450 (USD 250) per month, would be allowed to remain but need to begin paying normal rent for the facilities, albeit below market rent levels. Christiania has rejected this scenario, fearing the freetown would turn into a normal Copenhagen neighbourhood. In particular, the concept of privately owned dwellings would be incompatible with Christiania%26#039;s collective ownership.
Christiania has countered the government%26#039;s plans for normalisation with its own community driven planning proposal, which after 8 months of internal workshops and meetings gained consensus at the common meeting before being published in early 2006. Christiania%26#039;s own development plan was awarded the Initiative Award of the Society for the Beautification of Copenhagen in November 2006 and the plan has received positive attention from the municipality of Copenhagen and the Agenda 21 Society for its sustainability goals and democratic process.
