Police crack down on accordion players

Police in the northern city of Tromsø are cracking down on the accordion players who have been trying, unsuccessfully, to strike a lucrative chord with passersby.

The police have had enough of the so-called street musicians, whom residents don't think are very musical at all. They're being firmly escorted off the city streets.

"The reports we've had indicate that people are being driven mad by the tunes coming from the accordions all day long," said police chief Truls Fyhn. "I have myself stopped to listen, and let me make it very clear: The quality of the music is very, very low."

Many of the accordion players have come to Norway from central and eastern Europe, and use their accordions to beg for money from passersby. They started cropping up in Norway, also in Oslo, a few years ago.

In Tromsø, it's now only legal to play accordion music outside in the city's main central square.