MEN armed with crowbars have ripped a metal picnic table out of a city park in a mysterious act of vandalism.
The table, which was bolted on to six concrete slabs, was overturned just days after it had been fixed in place in a Portobello park. Workmen had tried to make the table "vandal proof" to stop drunken teenagers throwing it into the Figgate Burn.
But less than a week after it was fixed in, neighbours were horrified to find it had been levered up and dumped upside down in the park.
Scratch marks on the table suggest large crow bars were used to overturn it. The considerable effort it would have taken to cause the damage has left residents baffled as to who did it and why.
There were none of the empty cans and bottles of alcohol usually found in the park after youths vandalise it.
"It's not the work of a few drunken youngsters. This is something only grown men could have done" <br>TOM FORSYTH
The table and chairs were only installed in Figgate Park last week thanks to a £1300 grant from the city council.
Tom Forsyth, who lives opposite the park and is a member of Northfield and Willowbrae community council, said he was "mystified" by the attack, which he said had been "a premeditated act of vandalism".
He said: "Why anyone would want to do that is a complete mystery. Maybe they heard that it was supposed to be vandal-proof and saw it as a challenge.
"We have had problems over the years with teenagers drinking in the park, leaving broken bottles and cans and spraying graffiti, but never anything like this.
"It's definitely not the work of a few drunken youngsters out to cause damage. This is something that only grown men could have done, as the bench is so heavy and there were large footprints found next to where it had been dumped. When I saw it upturned on Wednesday morning, I was dumbfounded.
"The concrete slabs were still attached to the legs and I couldn't imagine how it had been done.
"There were heavy scrape marks underneath the bench, so I can only assume someone has come along with a big crowbar and ripped it up."
The park has been used as a regular hangout for teenagers drinking alcohol since it was transformed into a nature reserve in the mid 1990s.
Residents and police have cleaned up broken bottles and damaged bins strewn around the park, as well as graffiti sprayed on trees and buildings. But police said the latest vandalism was far worse.
Pc Willie Rennie, the local community officer for the area, said: "We have had issues with youths using the park as a drinking haunt and have received a number of reports of antisocial behaviour in the area. However, there has been very little crime of this nature. It's a rare incident that doesn't look like it has been carried out by teenagers.
"I will be looking into this and speaking to people in the local community to try to find out what has happened."
Portobello Councillor Maureen Child said that the vandalism was a "slap in the face" for the local community.
She added: "I have no idea who could have done this or why they would want to do it.
"A lot of money has been spent on improving the park and making it a nice place for people to visit. It doesn't sound like this has been carried out by kids or drunken opportunists, and the fact that it looks premeditated and there were tools involved is a big concern. It is real damage that we hope does not get repeated."
The council's environment leader, Councillor Robert Aldridge, said officials were working with the community council to repair the damage.
A police spokesman appealed for anyone with information to contact them.
The full article contains 630 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
