The music festival Lollapalooza has packed up and left Gärdet in Stockholm. But not everyone is happy with how the place looks when the party is over. The organization Förbundet för Ekoparken, FFE, is now directing sharp criticism at both the organizer – and the king.
– It is absolutely appalling, you are destroying animals and nature, says Richard Murray, chairman, FFE.
Travis Scott, Kygo, Lizzo and Lil Nas X. The international music festival Lollapalooza attracted several world stars to Sweden and between June 29 and July 1, roughly 70,000 people visited Gärdet’s sports field in Stockholm.
The visitors seem to have enjoyed themselves, but residents in the area are less satisfied with how the organizer left the place.
“Trash, muddy and trashy“, “It’s downright awful“, “Scandal! There are lots of filth, plastic, etc. left behind”, are some of the critical comments from people in the area.
Several people also urge people to contact the Djurgårdsförvaltningen, which owns the land.
Criticism of the king: Not taking care of the agreement
The area is classified as a national city park and thus heavily regulated via laws and regulations. The organization Förbundet för Ekoparken, FFE, is an umbrella organization with 48 participating associations that protect the park’s animals and nature. According to them, Lollapalooza has been “devastating”.
– It is absolutely terrible. They destroy animals and nature, block the field and then leave it run over and littered. It looks terrible, says Richard Murray, spokesman. FFE.
According to Murray, it is not only a big problem for animals and nature, it is also illegal.
– This is a national city park, where you must not damage nature. It is explicitly written that way in the environmental code, which states that this type of damage must not be caused, he says.
The fact that it is royal land also means that more statutes have been broken. In this case, according to Murray, the king himself is to blame.
– The king manages the area and, according to the agreement, he must manage it so that they only benefit its beautification – and we don’t think he is doing it this way.
Castle Bailiff: Will rubbish remain
The zoo administration writes in an email to TV4 Nyheterna that they follow up the cleaning daily and that they are “not satisfied” before the area looked like it did before the festival.
“Even if the area is cleaned continuously during the festival itself, there will be rubbish left after 70,000 people over three days”, writes castle bailiff Magnus Andersson.
According to Andersson, one reason why the cleaning has been delayed is the heavy downpours.
“This year, however, certain moments have been slightly delayed due to the torrential rain after the weekend, when the ground becomes sensitive to heavier vehicles”, he writes and concludes:
“If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be welcome again – everyone involved knows that and it creates motivation.”
TV4 Nyheterna has contacted the festival organizer and the city of Stockholm, who have not heard back.