Swedish police explode over 'incendiary' artwork

A Swedish artist's outdoor art exhibition prompted a bomb scare on Saturday, police warned that criminal charges may be filed.

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Conny Blom, 35, installed his work "The Bunny Project; Bombs" in various locations across Örebro in central Sweden at the request of the city's local gallery as part of Open Art, an open air art festival.

Blom wrapped up 15 bunches of carrots in black tape, attached a number of blue and red wires and placed a clock on top of them as if they were real bombs.

But his work had only been on display for around an hour when a member of the public raised the alarm.

We received a call ... from a person who said they saw two real bombs placed outside the public library," said Ronny Hörman from the Örebro police force.

"It was hard to tell if they were real or not. We find this inappropriate," he added.

Blom, who has removed the rest of his artwork at the request of the local police, described it as a harmless stunt.

"After all, it is just carrots with an alarm clock and nothing else...this is just a caricature of a bomb," he said.

But Hörman told AFP that police guidelines required all bomb threats to be followed up and he refused to rule out the possibility of public nuisance charges being brought against Blom or the Örebro Art Gallery.

Officers seized two of Blom's pieces outside the library and three others in a nearby public square.