Anti-terror barriers “lovingly wrapped” in Christmas paper to disguise their grim purpose are springing up across Germany.
“Suddenly, overnight, they were there: huge Christmas parcels in Bochum’s city center; wrapped in pretty wrapping paper with stars, firs — and as a topping a red bow,” reads a Welt report on the new “decorations” in the North Rhine-Westphalia city of Bochum.
“It was important for us to fit the ugly barriers into the beautiful overall ensemble,” explained a Bochum Marketing spokesman.
“That’s why we wrapped the 1.2-ton sandbags and provided them with red ribbons.”
Bochum’s boulevard will be closed to transport for the first time this year, Welt adds.
Such objects, designed to deter the vehicle ramming attacks which have become popular among Islamist terrorists in recent years, have been dubbed #MerkelLego — after the German chancellor and the resemblance of some of the more common designs to the children’s building block toy.