Andersson-Eiras Ren was one of a total of three reindeer found killed in a suspected hate crime directed at Rans Sami village. Afterwards, a movie spread in social media where someone runs on the reindeer and laughs.
This came in the middle of a period when the Sami village was subjected to large amounts of hatred from the outside because they took the fight against Rally Sweden wanted to run rally in the middle of the pasture area.
“Brutal and macabre”
For the Sami village, this was just one in the line of the hopes from the outside – although this time it was much worse than before.
-This brutally and macabre I don’t think we have been around before, says Maidi Andersson-Eira.
She continues:
– It has all taken on. The attack has been against Rans Sami village. The reindeer is the foundation throughout our lives, our entire culture and is by far the finest we have.
However, not everyone has been against the Sami village. On social media, many have supported them under the hashtag #reindeer love.
Hope for dialogue
The support has meant a lot, Andersson-Eira notes. But on the same social, there has also been a completely different picture of what has happened.
– Many woke up and saw that it was terrible. But then there is the other side that says we have done this ourselves, that we would have ordered the event to get money, to stop the rally, to create war, she says.
She still hopes that the event will be able to lead to something positive.
– I hope the police investigation will be guilty. I hope there will be some kind of proper dialogue between us and all other parties in this where we are understood how horrible it has been here. So that you can get any change so that this is never repeated again.
According to the police, a man is suspected of gross animal cruelty and damage, but no prosecution has yet been brought.