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Friday’s vandalism attracted attention on Christmas Day around the Old Cemetery in central Malmö. According to Sydsvenskan, there are a total of 27 trees along an avenue that has partially lost its bark.
According to the Kvällposten photographer, similar, but lighter, damage has also been discovered on trees at Kungsparken in Malmö.
Several similar cases during winter
The damage is far from the first of its kind.
In early November, intentional damage was discovered to about 20 trees in Pildamms-, Kungs- and Slottsparken. Just over a week later, another 30 trees had suffered similar damage.
These are recurring vandals who carve out of tree trunks. The city of Malmö has plastered the trees several times, but there is no guarantee that the plants will actually survive.
Several of the previous tree attacks have been reported to the police.
– Consciously aiming to walk and damage trees is, to say the least, extraordinary. There is absolutely nothing to gain from such an act; on the contrary, you’re doing yourself and others a disservice, said Mattias Thelander, a landscape engineer with the street and real estate office, in a press release published after vandals damaged several of Malmö’s trees On the 9th of november.
Mattias Thelander had previously told SVT that each new tree costs a little over SEK 20,000 to plant, tie and care.
Police: “I didn’t do anything special”
The city of Malmö has reported to the police several times during the year about the damage to trees in the municipality. However, no martyr tree has been found so far.
Police in the southern region do not know if new police reports have been received after the Christmas damage. But press spokesman Rickard Lundqvist tells TT that police generally do not prioritize investigating vandalism.
– It is sad when you commit vandalism in such a place, but vandalism in itself is a crime with a lower penalty scale, it is not something to which we are going to put any extra resources. We have not done anything special to be able to process it, it is very difficult to know when it will happen next in a city like Malmö, Lundqvist tells TT.
