Woman killed when politicians gathered on Gotland | Sweden
A woman in her 60s has been killed in a stabbing in daylight on Swedish Gotland, where the country’s top politicians are gathered for an annual event.
Just before 2 pm (1200 GMT) in central Visby, which is currently hosting a gathering of the country’s political parties, a man attacked a woman with a sharp weapon, according to the police.
This was reported by the newspaper Expressen that the suspect was suspected of having links to the neo-Nazi group NMR, but the police do not want to confirm this.
The victim received emergency care at the scene before being taken to a nearby hospital.
“Unfortunately, I can report that the woman has succumbed to her wounds,” said Fredrik Persson, head of the Gotland Police, at a press conference.
Persson said that a 33-year-old man had been arrested in close proximity to and shortly after the attack and that he is currently suspected of murder.
– An intensive investigation is currently underway. Part of that is to determine the motive and background of the detainees, says the police chief.
He added that there were a number of issues they were looking at “because it happened in a very public place, where there were a lot of people in central Visby in the middle of the day”.
The police did not want to comment on a motive, but Persson admitted that a political motive could not be ruled out at such an early stage of the investigation.
However, the police also said that they did not believe that the incident was linked to Almedalen Week, an annual event that brings together most of Sweden’s elite when political parties often present new policies and launch campaigns.