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Carrots cause Swedish bomb scare
BBC News

Police found the "bombs" were in fact carrots
A Swedish art project caused a bomb scare when people mistook carrot "explosives" for the real thing.

Artist Conny Blom set up The Bunny Project: Bombs, at 15 locations near the southern Swedish city of Orebro.

He taped bunches of carrots together with black tape and attached blue and red wires and a clock to them.

Police received worried calls from members of the public who thought they were real bombs. Mr Blom was forced to remove his art - and may face charges.

'Inappropriate'

The carrot bombs had been placed around the city at the request of a local art gallery, as part of an open-air arts festival.

They had only been in place for an hour before police received their first call.

"We received a call ... from a person who said they saw two real bombs placed outside the public library," Ronny Hoerman from the Orebro police force, was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

"It was hard to tell if they were real or not. We find this inappropriate," he said.

Mr Blom described it as a harmless stunt.

"After all, it is just carrots with an alarm clock and nothing else... this is just a caricature of a bomb," he said.

On one hand, I think this piece of art would help to bring out a dialogue on society's fears, who we should fear, who we should not. It addresses the paranoia many live with. However, I don't know that most people are ready to address these feelings and thoughts just yet, especially in this way. I think they will be quick to dismiss him as another "terrorist" instead of looking at our culture's increased craziness about bombs, weapons, and control. Who are the real terrorizers? The State.

Now, I can't tell exactly what the artist is trying to do here, but perhaps it is to make a statement that we need food not bombs. In that case, I think it was well done. If it was just a joke to mess with people, probably not the best taste. Real bombs are not a joke kids.