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Copenhagen’s Cannabis Shops Get Demolished By Residents In Riot

Copenhagen's Cannabis Shops Get Demolished By Residents In Riot

World

Copenhagen’s Cannabis Shops Get Demolished By Residents In Riot

Copenhagen Cannabis Supermarket

Long Story Short

The hippie neighborhood of Christiania has long been known as Copenhagen, Denmark’s cannabis supermarket. That’s especially true when it comes to hash. For decades now, Christiania has been known around the world as a hash heaven. But all of that may be over. Residents of the neighborhood demolished cannabis shops over the weekend in response to a bloody shootout last week between a hash seller and cops.

The Details

Violence rocked last Wednesday the usually peaceful neighborhood of Christiania. A man selling hash got into a gun fight with cops. He shot two officers and a bystander. One officer is in critical condition. The other officer and the bystander are both stable. The shooter fled the scene but was later found and shot by other police officers. He died a short time later.

News sources reported that the gunman was part of a criminal gang selling drugs in the area. And apparently, the residents of Christiania have had enough. In response to the entire dilemma, inhabitants of the neighborhood got together this weekend to demolish the cannabis shops.

“It is important that we do this today with the wounded police officer in our thoughts,” said community spokesperson Risenga Manghezi. “But we cannot guarantee that they won’t pop up again, unfortunately.”

A Changing Christiania?

This isn’t the first time that pot shops have been torn down in Christiania. But in the past, it’s always been at the hands of law enforcement. This weekend marks the first time that the cannabis shops were shut down and demolished by neighborhood residents themselves.

And in some ways, the community’s actions might seem out of character. Christiania was founded back in the 1970s by a group of hippies who took over abandoned barracks. The area has always had very liberal ideas about drugs, which is why it’s been so easy to find all sorts of cannabis there.

The neighborhood was so open to cannabis and other drugs that it quickly got a global reputation as a pot smoking destination. But the neighborhood has also been focused on being a peaceful, semi-autonomous collective. And the recent violence between criminal hash sellers and cops has apparently gone too far.

At this point, it’s unclear what the future of Christiania will be when it comes to cannabis. If the criminal element stays away, maybe it will return to its former days of ganja glory. We’ll just have to wait and see.

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