This is the moment greedy shoppers rip apart a shopping centre’s touching floral tribute and strip it of blooms within minutes.

The installation was supposed to show a giant waterfall of roses tumbling down an escalator at the mall in Ningbo, in Zhejiang Province, China on 20th May.

Local media reported it was designed as a tribute to I Love You Day, a Chinese version of St Valentine’s Day.

But just moments after the display went on show, shoppers started to tear it apart to steal the plastic blooms.

Police were called to break up the mob of looters but too late to save any of the flowers, reported local media.

Video footage shot at the mall – later shared on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok – shows people ripping the display’s netting apart to get to the roses.

Then as they push and shove to get to the blooms some are seen walking away with armfuls of roses.

One girl appears to be clutching a whole bouquet of red roses to her chest and fiddling with her mobile phone with an excited expression on her face.

The display – reported local media – was supposed to be on view for two days but was closed in less than two hours.

One woman – named only as Chen in local media – came to see this display after reading about it on social media.

She said: “I wanted to check it out myself and take pictures.

“Then when we arrived in the afternoon, we saw so many customers robbing roses that we didn’t even have time to take a picture.

“The scene was a mess, and I was very disappointed.”

Ms Meng, a clothing store clerk at the shopping centre, said: “I find it unreasonable. These roses were originally arranged in the mall for everyone to see.

“Why should they be snatched back home? They are not worth a lot of money.”

A staff member of the Yintai City claimed that the display which was meant to last two days was taken down in just a couple of hours.

They said: “The flowers were maliciously damaged by customers.

“After they were robbed, there was no way to set it up again. The entire escalator was filled with roses.

“Everyone rushed up and we couldn’t control it.

“We had to call the police, due to some customers’ poor behaviour.”