Sweden's coronavirus rules are voluntary. One city hopes chicken manure will encourage compliance.

Chicken manure in Lund, Sweden
(Image credit: Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)

Scandinavia is celebrating Walpurgis Night on Thursday, and the annual festival of spring draws up to 30,000 people in Lund, home to one of Sweden's largest universities. Lund, like many cities and towns in Sweden, is urging people to skip the traditional crowded bonfires and parties this year because of the risk of spreading the coronavirus.

Unlike most other countries, however, Sweden's COVID-19 mitigation rules are mostly voluntary, and Lund can't ban people from amassing in its central park for "spontaneous" Walpurgis Night festivities, The Guardian reports. So they are dumping a metric ton of chicken manure in the park. It's a win-win, Guvtav Lundblad, a member of the local council, told Sweden's Sydsvenskan newspaper. "We get the opportunity to fertilize the lawns, and at the same time it will stink and so it may not be so nice to sit and drink beer in the park."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.