Lister

By Kerstin Bruun-Hansen

Translated by: Nadia Duthiers

Huddled in their camp chairs, they look like spectators at a cosy open air show.

Police Line. Do not cross. The barrier in front of the many spectators communicates a clear message.

A number of guards wearing orange vests and police officers patrol the other side of the barrier. The words “bomb threat”, “danger”, and ”evacuation” are ricocheting among them, front row spectators showing no fear.

”We’ve got front row seats to death here”, the ones closest to the scene yell while toasting.

”No counselling?”

Fortunately there was no real danger, when a large camp in the C area was evacuated and closed off on Sunday. A bomb-like object was located in a tent and the police reacted immediately.

”The guards drove us out, saying that it was dangerous to stay on the premises”, a Norwegian girl with a crooked smile and shrugs. She is sitting on the grass behind a row of camp chairs, looking and feeling safe.

”Do we get counselling or what?”, one of the evacuees yell, inviting a bout of laughter from some of the guards, a reaction characteristic of the atmosphere at the site.

“Most of them were laughing, thinking it was pretty silly to be evacuated,” Tine Pedersen, one of the orange clad guards, says.

Race against time

In spite of much laughter and shrugging everyone did what they were told to do, and the area was evacuated with no one panicking.

Back on front row the boys agree that the risk of there being a bomb is by no means the greatest threat. They have far more important things to worry about:

”Before long, our beers are going to be in the sun”, one of them says and points to the camp, before he dramatically adds:” That’s why it’s really a race against time.”

Whether the boys’ beers were saved from the destruction of the sun is left to be told. The police managed to remove the bomb, which turned out to contain no explosives, and the evacuated campers were finally able to repossess their camp.

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