Mehmet Akyol, a mukhtar (village headman) in northern Turkey, dismantled a children’s playground he had built a week ago after he lost in Sunday’s local elections, the Cumhuriyet newspaper reported.
Akyol, who has been the mukhtar of the village of Yenidoğanlar in northern Zonguldak province for 20 years, reportedly disassembled the swings and the slides with a chainsaw and tried to load the pieces into his vehicle.
Residents prevented Akyol from taking the equipment away and shared video footage of him dismantling the playground on social media.
The newly elected mukhtar, Rıdvan Onay, said he witnessed the incident by coincidence and that the playground was originally granted by the municipality.
The locals also reported that Akyol took away an electrometer, a door lock and a bulletin board as well as coal and firewood from the mukhtar’s office.