Gothenburg power cut sparks vandalism

A gang of youths threw stones at police and vandalised buildings during a power cut in Gothenburg on Sunday night. Nobody has been arrested but police say they are working on a number of leads.

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Around 50,000 households in the Hisingen and north-eastern parts of the city were left without electricity at around 9.30pm. By midnight the power was back on.

Train traffic around Gothenburg stood still and suburban trains were also affected.

During the blackout a gang of youths in the north-eastern quarters of the city went out and began to vandalise buildings. Windows of a bank and shopping centre were smashed in Hällbo, while a number of schools in Angered were also targeted.

A large number of police officers were sent to deal with the disturbance, but the youths turned on them, hurling stones in the dark.

None of the youths were taken into custody or arrested for the damage, and nobody was injured.

On Monday morning it appeared that the damage was far less serious than initially feared.

The cause of the blackout was a fault in an electricity station in Lärde, combined with a simultaneous failure in a transformer in Stenkullen.

By 8am on Monday, police had received 14 reports of damaged property.

"We reckon that more will come in during the day," said Malin Sahlström at Gothenburg police.

Police were first alerted to the vandalism just a few minutes after the power cut began, as people called in reporting the sound of glass being smashed in Angered.

As soon as the lights came on again the group of youths split up.