A city in Sweden is deploying a new weapon in its efforts to curb the coronavirus outbreak - chicken manure.
Authorities in Lund spread the foul smelling fowl fertiliser in its main park this week to deter revellers holding spring celebrations from gathering.
City officials have asked residents to skip today's traditional Walpurgis Eve celebrations, known in Sweden as Valborg, and plan to fence off the Lund city park.
However, they told AFP they would also go a step further and take the opportunity to spread one tonne of chicken droppings in the park.
While giving the lawns a welcome dose of nutrition, they also hope it will keep at bay those who would otherwise be tempted to defy the coronavirus restrictions.
"Well, chicken manure simply smells awful," Gustav Lundblad, chairman of the city's environment board, told AFP.
Understating matters slightly, Mr Lundblad said: "It's not very pleasant to sit around drinking beer in that smell."
The park is a popular gathering spot for afternoon and early evening picnics on 30 April, before the traditional bonfires later in the evening.
Since the festivities, which can attract up to 30,000 visitors, are "spontaneous", the city cannot outright ban them but given the coronavirus outbreak, Mr Lundblad said the city strongly wanted to avoid them.
Lund is home to one of Sweden's largest universities and many of the municipality's some 125,000 inhabitants are students.
