A Danish court has ruled that residents of Copenhagen's counterculture Christiania neighborhood have no right to use the former navy base they took over three decades ago.

The Eastern High court on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against government plans to regain control of the partially self-governing neighborhood in the Danish capital.

Christiania's more than 900 residents had expected that ruling, Christiania spokesman Thomas Ertman said. "I believe that we will appeal the case" to Denmark's highest court, the Supreme Court, he said.

There was no immediate comment from the government or its lawyer.

"No Danes are above the law, neither are the residents of Christiania," said Peter Christensen, a senior member of the ruling Liberal Party. "I am very satisfied that the ruling came out this way.

The neighborhood was created in 1971 when hippies began squatting at a derelict 18th-century navy base on state-owned land. It became a flower-power community with psychedelic-colored buildings, open trade of hashish and limited interference from the government.

Today, Christiania offers a sharp contrast to the rest of Copenhagen, and it is one of the capital's biggest tourist attractions, averaging 1 million visitors a year.

However, when authorities started cracking down on the illicit drug trade there in 2004, and Denmark's Parliament announced plans to tear down buildings to build new apartment blocks, the squatters fought back.

They sued the government in 2006, claiming they have the right to use the land, even if they don't own it.

Over the years, there have been many clashes between police and residents.

In 2008, police fired tear gas to dispel demonstrators protesting the eviction of squatters. Protesters had set fires to barricades and pelted police with rocks and firebombs.