The Swedish people are moving towards vacation time and for many it is Scania’s Österlen, with long sandy beaches, rolling hills and verdant apple orchards, which beckons when summer vacation is needed.
But now the Armed Forces are issuing a sharp warning to those who intend to vacation in the idyll in the future.
Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT
Shooting ranges are monitored – less risk on the walk
The Armed Forces: “Real bullets that fly”
Because on the east coast, next to Hanö Bay, is the Ravlunda shooting range, which is an area classified as a protected object. There, the Armed Forces shoot, during exercises, with live ammunition.
In the past, it has been forbidden to stay on the field in connection with such exercises, but now parts of the area are permanently protected and it is therefore completely forbidden to move there at any time.
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Image from the exercise Baltops, which took place at the Ravlunda shooting range, in 2019. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
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At the same time, the Swedish Armed Forces have experienced problems with unauthorized people entering the area, despite warning signs.
– It is associated with danger to life. We use a shooting range to shoot with live ammunition and then there are real bullets flying by, says Marcus NilssonP7’s communications manager, to P4 Kristianstad.
“Trying to scream and stop them”
The problem of unauthorized persons on the shooting range is so widespread that the Armed Forces must carry out extra checks to ensure that no one, for example, is camping or moving in the area before the exercises begin.
Picture from the exercise Baltops. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
According to the Armed Forces, several of those illegally staying in the area are non-Swedish-speaking tourists who, for example, followed a GPS and got over the fence. But it also happens that exercisers break the ban.
– The classic thing is when they are out for a run and headphones on, they run straight past the signs even if we try to shout and stop them, says Marcus Nilsson to the radio channel.
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