01x03 - Episode 3

[bunniefuu]

[tense music playing]

[Balther] I can't tell you how many times

I've had an officer up in my face.

One day in Christiania,

I was reading the paper, drinking coffee.

JØRN BALTHER - DOCUMENTARY

FILMMAKER & CHRISTIANITE

When all of a sudden,

an officer said to me,

"Get up. You're getting searched."

He goes, "Do you have any hash

in your pants?"

Um I look at him and say, "Nope."

"Well unbutton your pants."

So I stood there in Cafe Månefiskeren

with my bare a*s in long johns.

Are you a complete idiot, or what?

Do you want me to search you?

He told me to take my clothes off!

[Balther] That really got to me.

I couldn't sleep that night, at all.

I mean, I was absolutely

seething with rage.

What started out as a hippie dream,

ended up as a brutal nightmare.

[The Wholesaler] If there's demand for

something and there's money to make,

people like me will swoop in

and capitalize.

[Larsen] On one side are the drug dealers,

and on the other side

are the combat-ready cops.

When we strike, we follow through.

[people shouting]

[Larsen] In the middle

are the Christianites.

I felt like a hostage

caught between drug dealers and cops.

What the hell are you doing?

They wanted to hurt each other.

[siren blaring]

It was It was w*r.

We thought, "f*ck them."

I've been in situations thinking,

"You're dead, you won't survive."

We got to the point

that we had always feared.

[g*n blast]

Someone was shot dead

in Pusher Street.

That k*lling became the final straw

in decades of fighting on Pusher Street.

g*ng w*r PUSHER STREE

[moody dramatic music playing]

[Norton] After the Christmas Peace

of 1993,

there was a long period of time

with virtually zero police presence

in Christiania.

We will be initiating

a dampening of police activity.

ERLING OLSEN

MINISTER OF JUSTICE, SOC. DEM.

[Norton] This means that the merchants

of Pusher Street are left alone by police.

CARSTEN NORTON

AUTHOR & JORNALIS

A kind of golden age sets in for Pusher

Street after the Christmas Peace.

[contemplative music playing]

[Kluck] The cops were gone a long time.

TONNY KLUCK

FORMER DRUG DEALIER

Finally we could build our stalls. Slowly

but surely, the street was taking shape.

[Lykke] It was during that period that the

market took on that characteristic look

with all the stalls and the heaters.

OLE LYKKE

CHRISTIANITE

That entire Pusher Street aesthetic

that became famous.

[Tuxen] In the end,

it was a real shopping street.

Some were really nicely decorated

with colors and paint

and figurines and such.

KLAUS TUXEN - ACTIVIST & FOUNDER

OF HEMP PARTY

There were lots of different stalls.

[Bille] They became more

and more like little shanties,

like, uh, like houses with stereos,

decorations, and garlands.

KARL BILLE

ARTIST & MUSICIAN

That was a lot of fun.

People had a blast.

That was the golden age.

[upbeat music playing]

When I started going to

Christiania in the mid-nineties,

that Christiania was peaceful.

There were a few fights,

but it felt like a safe

and very pleasant place to be.

I just remember everything being open

with extremely mellow vibes.

CARLO

CHRISTIANITE

[Bille] Especially at nighttime.

The sales and trading calmed down

and all of the vendors went home.

So you could take over these shacks

with stereo equipment

and just and have your own

your own little party.

[Carlo] The cannabis dealers' shacks

were incredible,

they were all like little houses.

Some of them had a television,

PlayStation, Nintendo.

You were just like, "Wow!"

You really wanted to spend

lots of time there and just hang out.

There was all kinds of stuff, soda, and

comic books, you could have a good time.

MATHILDE

CHRISTIANITE

I remember when it was Mardi Gras

and all of the kids would go,

like, "trick-or-treating"

for money at the different stalls.

That was so fun.

You always got a lot of money there.

During that time,

police authorities estimate

that hundreds of millions

of kroner change hands

each year, on Pusher Street.

It was ill*gal, illicit money.

It's not money that taxes are paid on.

It was a huge, ill*gal market.

[quiet dramatic music playing]

During the late 1980s,

Bullshit, in particular,

were the main focus for police

in the Christiania hash trade.

After they shut down, only one faction

had the strength and capacity

to carve out a controlling stake

of Pusher Street,

and that faction was the Hells Angels.

[Sandberg] In 1996, I joined Hells Angels.

And the people I ran with,

they hung out there, in Christiania a lot.

BRIAN SANDBERG

FORMER HA MEMBER

[Norton] After Bullshit dissolved,

there was a five-year period

where, really, only the Hells Angels

had any presence on the scene.

And then, in 1993,

the Bandidos arrive in the country.

The Hells Angels tolerated their presence,

but when Bandidos started

to open new branches

in Denmark

and the other Nordic countries,

a conflict emerged that eventually

broke out into a biker w*r.

[Sandberg] Christiania was

a safe haven for us.

It was like wearing bulletproof

vests in the middle of a conflict.

They left us alone,

and it was easy to be armed.

Christiania, after all, is a large area.

You could hide a bag of g*ns.

That wasn't what the cops were after.

For those of us who were in that conflict,

we could be left alone.

[Norton] If you asked the police

at the time, they would have said

that the Hells Angels was effectively

taking over the drug dealing

that took place on Pusher Street.

The police were convinced that

the Hells Angels were in complete control

of who got to deal and that the HA

was getting a pretty large cut

of the financial profits available

in Pusher Street.

There were certainly members of HA

that were convicted of selling cannabis.

Was it organized? Definitely not.

The people who got in on it got lucky.

[tense music playing]

[Larsen] In the late 1990s, bikers really

start hanging out in Christiania.

What their role is in the cannabis

business is unclear.

But they are staking their claim,

and weed is flooding Pusher Street.

[upbeat music playing]

Pusher Street was sometimes

a bit like going to a farmers' market.

People got a much broader selection.

[dealer] That is the joint tray,

and this is the chillum tray.

Forty kroner.

- Weed's a treat but hashish is neat!

- Prime quality.

- We've got Maroc and Lebanese.

- Get over here!

It was that kind of marketplace,

where people freely sold hash.

I just thought,

"Holy sh*t. This is insane."

[Carlo] I mean, they had all the quality

goods that every pothead dreams of.

[Kluck] Standard, Smoker,

and Super Smoker.

[Carlo] Black Maroc, Black Lebanon,

Light Lebanon.

There's Pollen Afghan, there's Nepal,

and then there's Charas.

[Carlo] It was huge,

you could get whatever you wanted.

They had it all.

There were plenty of customers,

and plenty of cannabis to go around.

[Carlo] There was a huge,

huge flow of money.

It was just an absolutely insane amount.

It was a goldmine

to have a stall out there.

[Norton] Christiania attracted a lot

of young people from Amager

and other suburbs of Copenhagen.

It became an after-school club of sorts

for young, maladjusted misfits

who sought out the scene

in and around Pusher Street.

[contemplative music playing]

[Nikolaj] I was in living

in the suburbs at the time,

and I'd recently gotten into selling

cannabis just on the side.

NIKOLAJ

FORMER GOFER

I was thinking,

"I want to experience more."

So I went to Christiania and got a chunk.

And I saw a different world

than I was used to.

Seeing this whole group of people

standing in solidarity,

and focusing on the whole hash scene

was eye-opening for a young guy.

The way people

made you feel welcome,

they didn't look down on you.

That's what did it for me.

One day, I was offered

to make a little extra money

as a gofer.

[Norton] The cannabis trade is structured

and operates as one long

and interconnected supply chain.

First, you have the hemp grower,

who, of course,

is the one who produces the cannabis.

There's a kingpin, who buys the hash

and then proceeds to sell it on.

The kingpin might sell it

to individual stalls in Christiania.

At each stall, there's a separate

hierarchy with the specific vendor,

who's the one

who actually cuts the hashish.

There's a runner,

who's the person who runs to the stash

and to fetch whatever

new supplies are needed.

And then there's a person

at the very bottom of the ranks,

who's referred to as a "gofer"

or a "soldier", who simply does chores.

They take care of a variety

of simple tasks.

There's a whole hierarchy and pecking

order around each individual booth.

I accepted because

it was what I'd been striving for.

[man] I've been coming here for ten years.

[Norton] During this period when

the police were absent from Pusher Street,

there was very little friction or tension

between the cannabis dealers

and the Christianites.

There were a few isolated instances

of violent clashes or confrontations,

but that was something they were mostly

able to handle among themselves.

It would be brought up and addressed

at a community meeting,

which is the Freetown's highest

decision-making body.

JOINT MEETING

[Lykke] Every single person

has the right to speak

and participate at community meetings,

and people make decisions

collectively as a matter of principle.

[contemplative music playing]

[Kluck] There were discussions

after violent incidents.

If there was an incident where some

of kids living in Christiania got violent,

that was a matter for the meeting.

[Balther] The community meeting

was like a trial,

with a prosecutor, public defender,

and the rest of the people

of Christiania as a kind of jury.

Issues would be discussed, sometimes

resulting in disciplinary action.

[Balther] Our penal system

is either exclusion

or temporary ban from town.

And that was the way

we ran Pusher Street.

[Norton] It is perfectly

reasonable to assume

that the activity and revenue generated

on Pusher Street during this period

helped lift all of Christiania,

economically and in spirit.

[reporter] The free town of Christiania,

Once the scorn of all Denmark,

now a tourist destination.

During that time,

there were a lot of tourists,

and I also remember that the people

who were associated

with maintaining

and beautifying the streets

made extra efforts to have them

recobbled and have fresh new signs made.

[reporter] Copenhagen's third

most popular tourist destination

draws close to a million visitors

a year from around the world.

Every year, when springtime rolls around,

you get a huge influx.

It's just like, "Okay,

I can't even ride my bike anymore."

[ethereal music playing]

There is a great sense of community

among all the people who work the stalls.

They're all actively engaged

in community activities.

PRESERVE CHRISTIANIA

[Carlo] Tourists run into houses

if they need to pee.

"Can we use the bathroom?

Yeah, sure you can."

I always though that was

a pretty funny experience as a kid.

[Kluck] With some of the money

we made, we, uh,

would arrange some cool

free concerts,

as a way to give back to the people.

[man] Ladies and gentlemen,

the greatest

Danish rap legend of all time.

Give it up for

MC Einar!

[Norton] During the time when the police

stayed away from Christiania,

there was an atmosphere that cannabis,

though sure, it may be ill*gal,

it must not be that ill*gal when nobody

decides to do anything about it.

That created a shared sense

that legalization

must be just around the corner.

I had some wagers on when

it would actually become legal.

That time was a true period of calm

that was before everything exploded.

[people chanting and clapping

rhythmically] Anders! Anders!

Anders! Anders!

[quiet dramatic music playing]

All signs point to Venstre now

being Denmark's largest party.

[Lykke] We got

the first Danish government

with an absolute right-wing majority.

[Rasmussen] It is our job to drive

Danish society towards new goals.

[Lykke] The new government

was completely fixated

on revoking Christiania's

"freetown" designation.

The government intends

to bring order to Christiania.

When people want to sanitize

or normalize something

that's so beautiful and colorful,

and oozing with culture,

to me, that's a sin.

Because I've experienced Christiania

as an exuberant, embracing place.

That was very valuable to me.

So when they say "Normalize it",

I think they're a bunch of

I think it's a mortal sin.

[marching drum music playing

and people shouting]

[Norton] When you look

at the foundations of Christiania,

there's no doubt that a hippie freetown

populated by left-wing activists

could be anything but a problem

for right-wing government.

There was a sort of rebellious atmosphere.

- [people] Legalize! Legalize!

- [Tuxen] The support was massive.

420 percent.

Legalize!

Legalize! Legalize!

Legalize!

LONG LIVE DIVERSITY

Keep Christiania! Down with Fogh!

[Norton] While Anders Fogh

would prefer to see Christiania closed,

he was well aware that there wasn't

necessarily public support for that.

Many people are happy that

Christiania exists as a freetown.

But on the other hand,

I think he's also aware

that there are a lot of people

who want the law to be upheld.

It's also, for many, a point of contention

that a lawless street is allowed to exist,

where cannabis is sold openly

in Copenhagen.

It's apprehension about the drug market.

The government decided to issue

a series of ultimatums to Christiania

to shut down Pusher Street

once and for all.

POLICE

When Pusher Street still wasn't

closed as the government wanted,

they came to the conclusion that

it was time to pivot to a new strategy,

which was to fight fire with fire.

To do that, police had just the man

to lead the operation:

On-Site Commander Bjarne Christensen.

Moving forward, we will be securing newer

and more effective tools

JUNE 3, 2003

for the police to continue to fight crime.

[mysterious music playing]

I was brought in because

I was an on-site commander at the time.

BJARNE CHRISTENSEN

FORMER OPERATIONS MANAGER

I joined the riot squad and took part

in developing the training courses,

so officers could go into the community

and complete effective raids

in Christiania.

[people shouting]

[producer] Do you know

Bjarne Christensen?

All too well.

[producer] What if I say Bjarne?

Leglock?

He had a really bad reputation.

He's the cop who thought

he could shut down Christiania.

He and his g*ng would come out

with these rituals

where they would they would

There were these rebellious people

who needed to be taken down.

[Norton] Bjarne Christensen,

in the early 2000s,

was an on-site commander

with the Copenhagen police.

He was sometimes referred to as either

the Street General or Bjarne Leglock.

He was extremely zealous

and proactive in his work.

For example, he was known

to be at the very front of the line

when the Copenhagen police went

on raids against the anarchist community.

There are different ways to lead

and I chose to stand with my officers

whenever something happened.

I didn't have any interest

in directing forces from a distance.

I wanted to be in the action.

I'd do whatever.

Work came with it.

One time I stood with my guitar and sung

my anger right into Bjarne's face.

The only thing

That keeps the sun from shining ♪

Is all the dirt

That you've got in your head ♪

[faint dramatic music playing]

[Beier] Bjarne, or Big Bjarne,

as he's also known

to both police and the civilians

ALLAN BEIER

FORMER POLICE OFFICER

Yeah, I was under his command quite

a few times, actually, over the years.

At the time, I had a sense that

he was a true b*ttlefield commander.

If there was trouble,

I was on the frontlines, working or not.

I'd show up, which was important,

because I wanted my team

to see that the lunatic was there.

"He won't let us down.

He's here for us."

I saw him as Alexander on his white horse.

Bjarne was the first to run in

during a raid and the last to leave.

He was the one who said,

"If they hit us once, we hit back twice."

He is evil.

I've seen him many times

grab a hold of people.

He has no morals.

He is a complete and monumental idiot.

A violent, unlikable person.

I would have gone

to incredible lengths for Bjarne.

He could have asked me for anything

and I would have said yes, no question.

[Norton] Bjarne Christensen establishes

himself as the face of the police strategy

during the conflicts in Christiania

and on Pusher Street.

His profile is high,

It's a markedly offensive strategy.

[Rasmussen] We need

a heavier presence.

We'll fight fire with fire.

At this point, we're at a stage

where our domestic policy becomes,

uh, more aligned with our foreign policy.

We're taking a harder stance on crime,

and doing something

about society's square pegs.

That's how we did it

in the early 2000s.

[woman] Cannabis stalls are set

to be closed in Christiania

and, with major police operations

MAY 6, 2003

the notorious Pusher Street

will be shut down.

[Lykke] The promised

police operations began.

That was the time when we all started

to see daily police presence,

with Bjarne Leglock

always at the forefront.

[Christensen] For the rest of my life,

I'll never forget the first raid.

A Thursday night.

I went there in plain-clothes.

[ethereal music playing]

We arrive on Pusher Street.

I'm looking around. Hash everywhere.

There are lots of people.

The stalls are bustling.

Then I call out, "Let's go!" on the radio.

"Let's go! Send in the officers."

They were so caught off guard

when we pulled out our badges.

They couldn't react at all.

Before long,

we had 11drug dealers in cuffs.

No one even attacked us.

In what was a large-scale operation,

hundreds of officers cracked down

on Pusher Street in Christiania.

MARCH 16, 2004

I felt great. It was awesome.

[Norton] If the police thought

it was going to be easy

to clear Christiania

based on their initial operations,

then they were in for a rude awakening.

It turned out there was

a tremendous drive, determination,

and collective will

to preserve Pusher Street.

- What are you doing here?

- Let us do our work.

[woman] Do you realize

you're arresting a heart patient?

Who are you to decide how we live?

[people shouting]

Calm down!

[woman] Hello?! He's an old man!

[officer] Take it easy! Do you hear me?

[Christensen]

We had zero-tolerance policy.

Zero tolerance meant that for as little

as point-zero-one grams of cannabis,

which ordinarily we would never write up,

we would make arrests.

And they also received a citation.

We stopped everybody

and searched them.

Wrote fines for everything.

Everything was black or white.

[Norton] With a zero-tolerance policy,

customers buying on Pusher Street

had to get used

to being stopped, targeted by,

and generally harassed by the police.

In the past, customers were in the habit

of turning a blind eye to the cops,

but now, they were at risk

of being arrested.

[woman] Something entirely new:

police are also taking

an interest in buyers.

[Bille] At Månefiskeren Cafe, which is one

of the places I would always hang out

POLICE CHECK TODAY

SINCE 01.11.2005: 1000

they had a sign posted on the wall,

tallying the number of police visits.

It was an extremely high,

ridiculous number.

[quiet dramatic music playing]

Often times when I was hanging out there,

I liked to smoke an occasional joint.

I had this truly, truly tiny amount on me,

and suddenly,

someone just appears out of nowhere

and scoops my mix into his hands.

Big plainclothes officer.

They drag me out and fine me

for point-five

or point-four grams of hash.

They banned me for two years.

For two years,

I was banned from my regular cafe

where all my friends were.

Of course, I went anyway.

I was in a jam band, and we played

all the time at Månefiskeren Cafe.

If we saw cops, no matter

what we were playing, we switched to,

I always feel like somebody's

Watchin' me and I got no privacy ♪

Then everyone went, "Cheese!"

[Larsen] "Cheese" is slang for "police."

It was a code word.

The thing is, if you warn others

that the police are coming,

you can be charged with acting

as an unauthorized guard.

So instead of yelling "police,"

you yell "cheese" as a warning.

Next to the cheese, there are fleas.

[Christensen] There were guards

stationed all over Christiania 24/7

They would radio out to the guard

command center when needed.

We ran the guard corps from there.

The civilians would yell "cheese," so that

everyone knew the police were coming.

Say somebody yells,

"cheese at the iron gate!"

If the dealer has contraband,

you run up to your boss,

and you take it off his hands.

Then he he just walks away. Easy.

Then you make sure you get out.

If you remove the cannabis,

the dealers just take off.

[Nikolaj] Every soldier had their own

routine for where they'd go.

I ran to Stjerneskibet.

I had some pretty good hiding

spots, for sure.

[Christensen] It just kept going.

It was tough, but we were determined.

If I didn't think we could win,

I wouldn't have gotten into it.

[Bille] People used to be able to relax

with their joints and we couldn't anymore.

Because we constantly had to keep

looking over our shoulders on high alert.

[tense music playing]

The police were everywhere.

The goal was to normalize Christiania.

That meant we had to establish

our presence, all day, every day.

We were always there,

tearing down stalls and removing them.

There's so much,

we have to make multiple trips.

We tore out anything remotely

belonging to the cannabis scene.

Burn barrels, tables,

chairs, everything

We hauled it away daily.

Whenever anything cropped up,

we would just remove it.

[Kluck] There were always police.

All the time. People couldn't breathe.

[woman] He has a pacemaker!

It was a stress tactic.

They did everything they could

to stress us as much as possible.

My friend just got arrested.

- Come on let's go.

- What the hell, man?

Tensions ran extremely high

on Pusher Street during this period,

but the vast majority of the Christianites

really didn't want violent clashes.

They are peace-loving people,

who just want to mind their own business,

and protect Christiania.

He's just standing there talking.

You are out of your mind.

Some people chose

to take on the police directly.

- Nice and easy.

- What?

What are you doing? You teenager.

[Norton] There's a very passionate

and resolute core on Pusher Street

that's willing to fight tooth and nail

for their right to be there.

[man] What's going on, man?

There are also people from out of town

who are from the left-wing

activist communities,

who are also willing

to step in and fight the police.

No, they're coming. Rocks!

[Nikolaj] We were mean.

- We went hard on the Danish police.

- [officer 1] Watch out!

[officer 2] Rocks!

They're throwing rocks! Rocks to the left!

I didn't envy the cops

in Christiania, at all.

[quiet dramatic music playing]

The first few times

I patrolled Christiania,

I had no real idea

what I was getting into.

[people shouting]

[Carlo] If officers spent more

than an hour in one place,

500 people would be there in no time,

ready to help the dealers

drive the police away.

We're retreating.

[tense music playing]

[Norton] Looking back at this period now,

it's reasonable and actually quite obvious

that the police and the authorities

underestimated the energy,

conviction, and will to fight

back on Pusher Street.

[Beier] The first time I got spat on

was in Christiania.

The first time I had rocks

thrown at me: Christiania.

The first time I got kicked

was in Christiania.

[woman] You're clearing our town!

What the hell are you doing?

SHAME

[crowd booing]

[Norton] It was difficult

for the police to move, operate,

and conduct work

in the area during that time.

They couldn't prepare

for the staggering number of people,

who could be mobilized very quickly.

A great number of the people

who flooded in

when the police arrived

on the scene, they were just kids.

They were regulars in the street

or they just found it exciting

to go to battle against the police.

[crowd shouting]

[Bille] They were put

in an impossible situation.

I understand the escalation

because I know people

who hate the police.

Take care of your own backyards!

[Nikolaj] We fought them as best we could.

We threw rocks

and did everything we could do.

We fought back.

- Hey! What are you doing?

- All right, get back!

We didn't cower. Or take their sh*t.

[man] wh*re!

[people screaming]

[Larsen] I have been witness to some

very intense incidents on Pusher Street,

where both the cops and the people

of Christiania were really fired up.

For some individuals,

the hatred for police is so great

that you actually

fear for the safety the cops.

[ethereal music playing]

[Beier] We were doing a show of force,

and as a routine part of it,

we went to the Communal Kitchen.

Right beside the door, there's a man,

and he's in the process

of lighting a joint.

I put my hand on his shoulder,

and I say to him, "I wouldn't do that."

He turns to me and says, "f*ck you."

And then, he puts his hands

on my chest and shoves me,

so we had to arrest him.

I sense this sudden shift in mood.

- [people shouting]

- Get back!

[Beier] I remember the first rock

striking right next to my face.

[intriguing music playing]

Shortly after, another rock falls

and another and another.

It's chaotic, I can hear rocks falling

everywhere, and I get struck on my body.

I didn't dawn on me

until I got hit by rocks

how aggressive, violent,

and dangerous it was.

[people shouting]

I realized that they had

no compassion for me.

[objects clattering]

- [officer 1] Rocks!

- [officer 2] Rocks from over here, too.

[expl*si*n]

[objects clattering]

[dramatic music playing]

When the lines get drawn up like that,

the hate is bound to get out of control.

We have the politicians to thank for that.

Because the police

are just there to enforce the law.

[Norton] When the police did

what they did during this period,

it wasn't of their own accord.

They had been ordered

to shut down Pusher Street. Ordered.

There was a zero-tolerance

policy for cannabis,

both the buying and selling.

As a result, the individual officers

became an instrument

of the government's intended policies.

[man 1] What are you doing?

Get a hold of yourself!

[man 2] Hey, man, what's the problem.

[man 3] What are you doing?

[people shouting]

I clearly recall that internal fire

starting to build in me.

There are bad people

who want to harm me,

and they need to be handled

with harshness.

When they throw one rock,

I have to hit twice with my baton.

There's this escalating approach

to the whole situation.

[person screaming]

There's no good to be salvaged,

just evil to be fought.

[Larsen] It was striking

the way that provocations

between police and the Christianites

would turn into riots in a split second.

We got out there,

and someone made a comment at us.

- What'd you say?

- What'd I say? What are you going to do?

We stop him and we lash out verbally.

And he responds in exactly the same way.

What are you doing?

What? If you call us names,

you get arrested.

We said things like, "b*stard cops",

and we'd tell them, "Get a real job."

You said I said something.

- Don't you dare get smart with me.

- What? [scoffs] All right, man, whatever.

I would give it back like,

"Your mother got it last night?"

That was a big shift, for sure,

for me and my colleagues.

- Did I say anything to you? No.

- Yeah.

[Beier] It really took over us

and got worse and escalated more,

You know, we, as an authority,

our job is to de-escalate

and calm things down.

We didn't practice that

at all in Christiania.

We absolutely added fuel to the fire,

and it turned into more and more

confrontations and violence.

If they want confrontation,

that's what they'll get.

[shouting]

[Kluck] No one wants to see

their friends get hurt,

whether it's the police or anyone else.

You guys are racists.

- Come with us.

- Okay, I will.

- Come on, let's go.

- You guys have no authority here.

[people shouting]

[Christensen] Yeah.

No, I didn't just stand there and take it.

If I issued a warning once,

the next time I would strike back.

The one with the black scarf

kicked me. I want her arrested.

They had their fun throwing rocks,

but at the end of the day,

they had to pay the piper.

[Kluck] One time,

I was just talking to a girl.

We were behind Bjarne.

And he grabbed me.

I didn't do anything, just said his name.

And he dragged me to Stjerneskibet.

I was under arrest and blah, blah, blah.

[crowd shouting and whistling]

While I was there,

people started getting riled up.

He forced me to sit on the ground.

And I wasn't having it, so I called out

to the others to throw rocks.

[Christensen] Sometimes, the person we

were in the process of arresting

would go, "Throw rocks. Hit the pigs."

I wanted to get the party started.

[all shouting]

[ominous music playing]

[all shouting]

I always told my guys,

"When we strike, we follow through.

They have to feel it."

[all shouting]

There were instances where I hit people

so hard that their lungs collapsed.

[muted screaming]

[all shouting]

Hey, hey! Hey!

Hey, back! Back!

Chill out, man!

[Larsen] The hatred, the resistance,

and the acts of violence

that the officers are subjected to

on a daily basis in Christiania,

it's so intense, the situation

is getting more and more heated.

You get the sense

that some of the police officers

are starting to take it almost personally

and, you know, react as such.

[people screaming]

I was looking for confrontation, I was.

I was full of contempt for them.

[man groans]

My hatred for that place grew.

And every time I had to go back

and work there,

I went home even more fed up with it.

Every chance I got, I hit a little harder.

That was the thought

running through my head.

We got harder, too.

We absolutely refused to cower.

We wouldn't take their sh*t.

If they're tough, we're tough.

You have to adapt.

[Carlo] They wanted to hurt each other,

there was a real hatred.

For us Christiania kids,

it became completely normal.

My parents were always upset.

They were feeling really unsafe.

All the adults around me had this

perception that the police are the enemy.

They were bullies and did us no good.

There were no good guys

or bad guys in Christiania.

The minute I arrived, everybody

was a categorical enemy of one another.

[dramatic music playing]

[Mathilde] I don't smoke cannabis

and wasn't involved in sales,

but I felt like a hostage caught

between drug dealers and cops.

I didn't feel like the police

were protecting me as a civilian.

[man] I wasn't doing anything!

I thought that since the Christianites

had so enthusiastically opened the door

to drugs dealers and then there were

people throwing rocks at police,

that they all were our enemies.

[people shouting]

In this period of daily raids,

no expense was ever spared.

It's true that there were

countless arrests made,

but those who are arrested,

they are small fish,

they're just the customers

on Pusher Street.

And regardless of all these raids,

the situation

is actually completely unchanged,

and police, over time,

come to realize they're ineffective.

Even though there are

all these ongoing police raids,

still, Pusher Street functions

relatively well.

It is still an extremely

lucrative business.

And that means that there are

various groups from outside of town

who begin to turn their attention

towards Christiania and Pusher Street

and think about how they too

can get a piece of the cake.

[Lykke] It was all about immigrant groups

getting into the cannabis market.

Especially Hells Angels

which fought back hard.

Soon, Christiania came under

even more intense pressure.

ON THE NEXT EPISODE

[Beier] They fight

for the cannabis market.

There are shootings

and killings all the time.

[g*nf*re]

[Lykke] We ended up in a situation

with g*ng warfare.

[rapid g*nf*re]

[Sandberg] There's always

competition in crime.

There's never a lone ruler.

[engine revs]

[Christensen]

We needed to normalize Christiania.

That meant demolishing ill*gal buildings.

Seemed easy enough.

Boy, were we wrong.

Fires, burned-out automobiles,

and lots of tear gas.

[man] What do you think you're doing?

They got to Pusher Street,

and that's when the sh*t hit the fan.

[explosions]

We were under attack,

and I couldn't see from where.

[Nikolaj] Now Nemoland

is full of cops with shields.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Hit them!"

[tense dramatic music playing]