– We have to get to the bottom of this. As a first step, I have sent a request for an extra transparency council meeting with the national police chief in the coming week, says Rasmus Ling (MP), member of the Riksdag’s justice committee and the police transparency council, to Dagens Nyheter.
– We need to be able to ask questions about the licensing in general and whether he has felt political pressure.
The police’s transparency council includes representatives of all parliamentary parties and the national police chief. Formally, its purpose is to give the public insight into police activities.
According to information to DN, the police have been subjected to pressure from politicians from both the previous and the current government not to grant a demonstration permit to Paludan. In a total of ten judgments, a number of different administrative courts have reprimanded the police for denying the permits.
The former Minister of Justice Morgan Johansson (S) writes in an email to the newspaper: “The police informed us on an ongoing basis about how they handled and prepared for the Koran burnings, but of course we never agreed with their permission.”
The press service of the current Minister of Justice, Gunnar Strömmer (M), writes: “how the Police Authority made its assessment in this matter is a matter for the authority.”
Rasmus Paludan wants to leave Sweden: “The Swedish people don’t understand”