The owner of a string of hotels has blamed squatters for a fire that was started in an abandoned house next to one of his hotels, and complained that the internationally-known Heart Park is a blight on the city.
Saturday evening, an empty house on Hverfisgata was reportedly on fire. Firefighters arrived at the scene and quickly extinguished the blaze. No one was hurt nor injured.
While the cause of the blaze is still unknown, Vísir reports that the owner of the Center Hotels chain has blamed the fire on squatters.
Providing no evidence for the accusation, Kristófer Oliversson told reporters that the house – which is next door to Hotel Klöpp – is home to squatters, saying, “You can’t expect good to come from a place where squatters live.”
Kristófer added that he finds the nearby Heart Park – which has received international attention as a tourist attraction – is a source of “noise and visual pollution” that he finds a blight on the city.
The tentative plans for the empty house is to tear it down – to make way for a new hotel.
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