Danish Supreme Court deals blow to hippie enclave

THE Danish government yesterday won a legal battle against a world-famous freewheeling neighbourhood that has remained largely self-governing since its creation by hippie squatters four decades ago.

The Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision from 2009 saying the roughly 900 residents of Christiania have no irrevocable right to use the former naval base as their home.

The decision ends a six-year legal standoff and means the government can go ahead with plans to “normalise” the neighbourhood and tear down scores of ramshackle homes built at the site without permits.