Police preparation for Almedalen – DN.SE

The police’s planning is actually underway to ensure security during Almedalen Week all year round. As soon as the week is over, you start thinking about next year, says the deputy chief of staff Fredrik Persson.

But this Christmas they went into a more intense phase before what will be a different political week.

– The war and the riots are of course parameters that are part of our planning process. During the spring, we have had meetings with party representatives and we also work closely with the organizer Region Gotland and the Security Police to be able to implement this safely and securely, says Fredrik Persson, who is the police area chief on Gotland on a daily basis.

This year’s edition is a shortened one version, five days instead of eight. It also affects the security arrangements in Visby because there will be two party leader numbers for several days instead of just one.

However, Fredrik Persson does not go into any details about how much police resource he has at his disposal.

– But it is a sufficiently large resource, he says.

The police have applied for, and agreed to, a flight ban over parts of Visby during the entire event. In addition, parts of Visby will be monitored around the clock with four cameras – three fixed and one mounted on a trailer. All cameras are controllable and zoomable. The purpose is to prevent and expose crimes and discover if there are disturbances.

Right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludanleader of the party Stram Kurs, has written on social media that he intends to go to Almedalen Week, but has so far not applied to the police for a general meeting.

During the spring, riots and riots broke out in the wake of his tour through Swedish cities. A large number of police officers were injured, several vehicles were set on fire and on several occasions the police were forced to withdraw. The police authority has reported itself to investigate whether there was a breach in terms of, among other things, how the operations were led and what equipment the police had. That investigation is not complete, but according to Fredrik Persson, experience has still been taken into account before Almedalen Week.

– We have looked at success factors and what may have gone wrong and taken into account different scenarios so that we are prepared for different event developments. Paludan is free to move on Almedalen Week like everyone else and if he comes here we have to deal with it, he says.

As DN reported previously, there is a strong, internal criticism within the police about how the efforts in connection with the spring riots were led and controlled. In Örebro, intervention police were prevented from helping because they lacked specialist training and it would be too dangerous. In Linköping, they did the opposite and sent in the same category of police officers – something that they themselves later reported to the police.

Gotland belongs to the Stockholm police region, which has plenty of police officers who are specially trained in the concept called SPT and which is about dealing with crowds. Fredrik Persson describes it as a great security in the planning work for Almedalen Week.

– I am very proud of the staff in Stockholm, where there is really competence and great habit to handle such situations.

Another controversial actor is Nazi NMR which has come to Almedalen Week several times. It is still unclear whether they will be present this year as well.

– There would be no bang if they come. We have people in the command who sit and follow this because it can pop up hot questions all the time, says Fredrik Persson.

At the same time, he emphasizes that it is the politicians, and not the police, who should be in focus.

– Almedalsandan is historic, it really is a place where you exchange opinions and talk politics. We hope and believe that we will be able to live on. We from the police are on site to secure the event.