– Here are the nation’s greatest personalities. And there come mourners to remember them and then there are people lying and sunbathing topless in bikinis and barbecues. And I think that is disrespectful, says Petter Stocke-Nicolaisen (45) Avisa Oslo, who first mentioned the case.
Stocke-Nicolaisen tells Dagbladet that he sees the burial grove, which is located at Hammersborg in central Oslo, as a quiet zone in the city. He lives right next door, and lately he has constantly experienced that it is anything but silence that characterizes the area.
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– On proper good weather days, there is regular partying throughout the evening at the graveyard. “Boombox “s (speakers journ. Note) and parties in, for example, Æreslunden, he says and adds:
– People go there to remember the deceased, and many take a walk there and sit on a bench to think about life and death. It harmonizes poorly with ball games, barbecues and butt shows. I wish people had shown more respect.
– Do not think about
At Æreslunden at Vår Frelsers Gravlund, greats like Hans Gude, Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Edvard Munch have their last resting place. But otherwise in the burial grove there are also newer graves.
– Such as Ari Behn and Pushwagner. There are also unknown men and women who are buried here. People put down flowers and light candles, so this is a burial ground that is in use. I do not think there is malice behind this, but that people do not think about it.
He believes that the Funeral Service in Oslo, which is responsible for Oslo’s cemeteries, should do more to remind people of what is not right in their green areas.
– People deserve to be made aware of this in a proper way, for example in the form of signage.
Forbidden
Department head Erik André Foss in the Funeral Service in Oslo municipality tells Dagbladet that they know about the problem that Stocke-Nicolaisen describes.
– We know that there is a lot of sunbathing going on, and we reject when we discover it. We also have mobile security in the evenings and on weekends, so it happens from time to time that people are expelled, he says.
During the pandemic, Foss says that they have seen an increasing use of the burial groves in the capital – also unwanted use.
– It is a wish that the cemeteries should be in use, but within what is legal. Sunbathing and that kind of indecent behavior is forbidden by the statutes, he explains.
– Should you do more to make people aware of what is not right?
– We have some signage, but when we discover that there is an increase in unwanted activity, we must consider more signage.