Oslo (AFP)

Masks are rare, distances unevenly respected, but the human chain is shaken, braving epidemiological risks: in the almost deserted streets of Oslo, activists throw their last forces to save a building marked with the imprint of Picasso.

Damaged by the bloody attack carried out nearby by Anders Behring Breivik in 2011, the "Y block", a complex of government offices named after its shape, is promised to be demolished imminently.

Its gray natural concrete walls house two drawings by Picasso, engraved there, with a sandblast, by the Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar.

On the street side, "Les Pêcheurs" features three men hoisting their disproportionately large holds in their boat. At the reception, "La Mouette" represents a volatile gobant, all wings spread, an anonymous fish.

Traced in the childish style characteristic of the Spanish master, the two works will be cut to be integrated into new government buildings called to stand in the future in this hyper central district.

But not everyone hears this.

"We will bite our fingers for many years," protested Erik Lie, one of 200 Norwegians, at most, who came on this frosty morning in May to form a chain in front of the building completed in 1969.

"I hope that the games are not made," he said under his orange cap proclaiming "Leave Y in place". Before adding, fatalist: "but, in a short time, it will probably be a field of ruins".

- Symbol of democracy -

Coronavirus obliges, the protesters are connected to each other by ribbons of one meter, as many links supposed to avoid too much physical proximity.

Driven by the energy of despair, they still dream of tearing the building, precious case of Picasso's drawings, from the claws of excavators.

Behind them, sheltered by tall fences, the noise of metal saws indicates that preparations are well underway. According to Statsbygg, the public agency in charge of the site, the master's works should be dismantled by the beginning of the summer.

Also built in the post-war years, the imposing "block H", very close, housed the Prime Minister's offices until Breivik detonated a van stuffed with 950 kg of explosives. The building will be renovated and will continue to be enthroned in the new ministry district.

For the defenders of the heritage, the symbol is strong: these buildings remained standing even if the extremist on the right tried to knock them down and, with them, democracy.

"The + block Y + is an emblematic building that survived a terrorist attack and now the government wants to demolish it without anyone really knowing why," said Tone Dalen, one of the leading figures of citizen resistance.

For the government, the destruction of the "Y block" to make room for new construction was a difficult but essential decision.

"This will improve safety and accessibility for cyclists and pedestrians, will lead to a more open and greener space as well as offices suitable for future ministries," said Minister of Modernization, Nikolai Astrup.

- Too late -

"Les Pêcheurs" and "La Mouette" - which the Norwegians have long ignored until the question of their relocation was raised - should also be said to be more accessible to the public.

"Many believe that it is only Picasso that deserves to be preserved but it is also the architecture and the interaction between the + block Y + and the + block H +, the history that this represents", objected Erik Lie .

"These are monuments that illustrate the reconstruction of Norway after the war and all that I associate with the development of modern society," he said.

Their aesthetic, raw and badly sided, may be questionable but, say the proponents of their preservation, one cannot destroy everything that one does not like.

"Maybe we don't find it beautiful today but, in 30 years, we may think the opposite," observes Cecilie Geelmuyden, a 50-year-old civil servant.

A bet on the highly random future. Despite the proliferation of punch operations, complicated by the health situation, the demolition countdown seems to have started irreparably.

Seizure, justice should rule after the summer. Too late, no doubt: by then, the "Y block" will probably only be a pile of rubble.

© 2020 AFP