For the second time in less than a year, landowner Ola Andreas Byrkjedal has found a swastika and the symbol for Norway’s wartime Nazi party NS painted onto the rocks of a mountainside on his property in the western county of Rogaland. Byrkjedal called the tagging “disgusting” and has reported it to police.
Stavanger newspaper Aftenbladet reported that the tagging was found in a relatively remote area that’s hard to reach at this time of year because of mild weather that made nearby ice unsafe. Whoever painted the symbols on the rocks must have risked walking over the ice to reach the area called Gloppedalsura, which was the site of a battle between Norwegian and German soldiers on April 22, 1940, two weeks after the Nazi German invasion. One Norwegian and 12 Germans were killed in the battle.
“This is so disgusting that it can’t go unpunished,” said Byrkjedal, who immediately reported the tagging. “I hope the police can track down those who are going around and doing this here.” Similar tagging was found in the area last June that also was removed, along with a sign reading “Refugees not welcome” hung up outside a nearby café.
Local mayor Frode Fjeldsbø of the Labour Party said the tagging would be removed later this week. “It’s sensible of the landowner to report this so that we can stop it,” Fjeldsbø told state broadcaster NRK. “We don’t know whether this is some childish prank or some sort of political act, but I believe an investigation is underway.”
newsinenglish.no staff
