Sweden is preparing for more clashes when right-wing extremist demos continue
HELSINKI (AP) – The police in Sweden say that they are preparing for new violent clashes after riots that broke out between protesters and counter-protesters in central Örebro on Friday before an anti-Islam far-right group’s plan to burn a Koran there.
Kim Hild, spokeswoman for the police in southern Sweden, said that the police will not revoke the permit for a planned demonstration of the Danish right-wing party Stram Kurs in Landskrona on Saturday because the threshold for doing so is very high in Sweden. who value free speech.
The demonstrators’ right to demonstrate and say no weighs enormously heavily and it takes an incredible amount for this to be ignored, Hild tells TT.
However, police said the rally would be moved to another unknown location, according to TT. Tight Course leader Rasmus Paludan also planned a Koran burning in Landskrona, the authority states.
Hild said that the police were preparing for the demonstration and possible violence with extra resources “given what has happened in recent days” in the Nordic country.
Two days of riots in various Swedish cities and towns, triggered by Stram Kurs’ demonstration, culminated in the violent clashes in Örebro late on Friday that resulted in 12 police officers being injured and four police cars being set on fire.
Videos and images from chaotic scenes in Örebro showed burning police cars and demonstrators throwing stones and other objects at police in riot gear.
Clashes have also been reported in recent days in Stockholm and in the cities of Linköping and Norrköping – all places where Stram Kurs either planned or had demonstrations.
Paludan, a Danish lawyer who also has Swedish citizenship, started Stram Kurs, or “Hard Line” in 2017. On the party’s website, which runs an anti-immigration and anti-Islam agenda, it says “Stram Kurs is the most patriotic political party in Denmark.”