A paper chase closes IKEA

Behaviour, which elsewhere would hardly raise an eyebrow, can get you arrested in the USA.

IKEA in New Haven (USA) was closed on Thursday last week after a customer reported seeing a woman scattering a white powder outside the store. City and state police, firefighters, the FBI, and the city Health Department were all called in to investigate. The powder turned out later to be flour, which was being used to mark the route of a paper chase.

Police arrested a brother and his sister who had marked the trail for an international running club and charged them with first-degree breach of peace. A police spokesman, asked if a breach of peace, which is a felony, was too severe a charge for someone marking their running trail said, “I think the question we should be asking is: ‘What did their act cost the city of New Haven?’”.

Not quite in the same category as the Boston Mooninites, but almost.