The Elm Conflict (Swedish: ''Almstriden''), also known as the Battle of the Elms (Swedish: ''Slaget om almarna''), was a dispute and public protest on 11–12 May 1971. Organised by Alternativ stad (the Stockholm branch of

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split with ...

), the dispute centred on the planned destruction of 13

Scots elm ''Ulmus glabra'' Hudson, the wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese and Sicily, where the species reaches ...

trees located at the entrance to the

Kungsträdgården metro station Kungsträdgården is a station of the Stockholm metro, located in the district of Norrmalm. It is the end station of line 10 and line 11 and was opened on 30 October 1977, as the 91st station and part of the one-station extension from T-Centralen ...

in Kungsträdgården, Stockholm, Sweden. Under the elms was an outdoor coffee house, popular among the youth at the time. The Stockholm city council, supported by the Swedish government, proposed cutting down the trees to prevent damage to the nearby subway. The Elm Conflict led to an examination of the need for citizens to have more input into the decision-making process of the city council, and received significant attention in Sweden's national media.

Background

Since the 1940s a huge redevelopment scheme had been going on in Stockholm city center, Norrmalm. The idea was that the main corporations needed centrally located head offices. Already around 1960, when much of Norrmalm was a big hole, it was clear that they wouldn't, but instead of shelving the scheme the city authorities went on, to the growing opposition of many citizens. Officials decided that undertaking repairs would be too difficult, so they proposed cutting down the trees and placing the entrance to the new subway station at that location. Stockholm parks manager Holger Blom noted that because of their age, the trees would not last much longer regardless. Stockholm politicians and technicians tried to persuade the citizens via an advertising campaign that the trees needed to be removed. The city council voted 63 to 34 in favour of removing the trees. On 23 April 1971, Prime Minister Olof Palme">Jan Jörnmark, ''Norrmalmsregleringen'' In 1970, subway construction workers found a crack in the subway structure in the vicinity of the Scots elms. Officials decided that undertaking repairs would be too difficult, so they proposed cutting down the trees and placing the entrance to the new subway station at that location. Stockholm parks manager Holger Blom noted that because of their age, the trees would not last much longer regardless. Stockholm politicians and technicians tried to persuade the citizens via an advertising campaign that the trees needed to be removed. The city council voted 63 to 34 in favour of removing the trees. On 23 April 1971, Prime Minister Olof Palme
's government approved the final plans for the new subway station at Kungsträdgården.

Protests

On 12 May, nearly 1,000 citizens of Stockholm gathered in a demonstration against the removal of the Scots elms. Protest tents were erected in the vicinity of the trees. The protests were well-organised. The protesters made phone lists (an early form of the smart mob technique of public mobilisation) in case the police entered the tent camps. Some people climbed the trees to deter workers from chopping them down. The situation escalated when government officials started chainsawing the trees under the protection of police. At one point, officers on horseback charged the demonstrators. Singer

Cornelis Vreeswijk Cornelis Vreeswijk (; ; 8 August 1937 – 12 November 1987) was a Dutch-born Swedish singer-songwriter, poet and actor. He emigrated to Sweden with his parents in 1949 at the age of twelve. He was educated as a social worker and hoped to become ...

was present at the protest, singing songs and offering support. The protests were covered extensively in the press.

Aftermath

The protesters were criticised in the media for being uncivil and undemocratic. As a result of the protests, the entry to the new subway station was moved east to a private property at Arsenalgatan 10. Most of the Scots elms remain at the site , though a few were chopped down by government officials before the protesters stopped further work. The protests and the outcome are considered a turning point in the redevelopment of Norrmalm and have contributed to more attention being paid by the Swedish government to public demands and questions. A 40th anniversary commemoration of the Elm Conflict was held on 11 May 2011.

References

{{Authority control 1970s in Stockholm 1971 in Sweden Protests in Sweden Environmental protests May 1971 events in Europe 1971 protests