Updated 01.10 | Published 2023-12-26 23.26
The goat has burned!
No, not the Gävlebocken – but his slightly smaller cousin that stands outside the Glashuset restaurant in central Stockholm.
– Some guests went out to smoke. Then it was some clever bastard who thought that now we should set fire to the goat, says Christos Neo, one of the restaurant’s owners.
The rescue service in Stockholm received the unusual alarm at 8 pm on Boxing Day evening.
– It’s a straw goat that’s on fire. Or straw, we haven’t sexed it. It is not as big as the Gävlebock, but maybe three meters high, says the rescue service’s command operator.
The police were the first on the scene and tried to put out the fire while they alerted the emergency services. The fire was quickly extinguished.
Got caught in the act – caught red-handed
In winter, the yuletide usually stands at the entrance to the Glashuset restaurant on the popular esplanade in central Stockholm.
Christos Neo, one of the restaurant’s owners, says that some guests were going outside to smoke. They then fumbled in the goat, which caught fire.
– The police drove by purely by chance and caught them red-handed. They started chasing the people and apparently caught one of them. This is apparently an attempted arson because it is by a building and not in a square, he says.
In pictures, you can see how a piece of the goat’s back was burned away. But most of it is unharmed.
– The goat survived, but now we have to remove it. When this comes out, it always triggers someone to set it on fire, says Christos Neo.