Today, far-right politician Rasmus Paluda is holding “election ceremonies” in western Sweden and tomorrow in central Sweden. Police, the rescue service and medical care have increased readiness.
A far-right politician who led the Easter riots in Sweden Rasmus Paludanin the “election ceremonies” continue again. Paluda has announced that he intends to hold at least nine events across Sweden over the rest of the week.
The Danish-Swedish Paludan’s occasions usually consist of burning a Muslim holy book in an immigrant-dominated area of the Qur’an.
Today, Thursday, Paludan is allowed to hold “election ceremonies” in Gothenburg, Borås and Trollhättan in western Sweden. According to Swedish TV SVT (switch to another service) in Frölunda, Gothenburg, for example, a large number of police officers patrolled early in the morning and bus traffic in the area was suspended.
Half past ten local times Paluda arrived at Frölunda Market Square. There were a few dozen protesters at the scene, but SVT said the situation was calm.
Right: Police have no right to deny Paludan
During the Easter riots, police were stoned. Several police cars were set on fire or otherwise damaged, and police equipment was stolen. Police have already made 340 reports of varying degrees of damage and injury during the riot. Of these, 186 are classified as serious.
According to police, criminal gangs used Paludan’s opportunities as an excuse to attack the police. Several police officers have said in interviews they feared for their lives.
To prevent further riots, police banned or postponed some of the events planned by Paludan. Last week, an administrative court ruled that a police decision to ban Paludan from an event in Borås at the end of April was illegal. Police had justified their ban on a risk and threat analysis, but the court found the reasoning inadequate.
However, according to the administrative court, the police can postpone Paludan’s events. The court held that the police should have been able to cope with organizing the event even somewhere in Borås.
This is how the police did at the end of February in Gothenburg, where the police suggested another location instead of the two locations Paludan wanted. However, Paludan preferred to cancel the events. The court found that the police had done the right thing in Gothenburg.
The actions of the police leadership are raising criticism
Chief of Police of Sweden Anders Thornberg said the escalation of events after the violent riots in Easter came as a surprise.
– We failed when we couldn’t anticipate this. We had no intelligence. I have talked to workers across the country and no one has been able to anticipate this rage and blatant violence, Thornberg claimed at the end of April.
Swedish Radio SR (switch to another service) however, revealed on Wednesday that police intelligence had already warned in February that criminal gangs intended to take advantage of Paludan ‘s opportunities to attack the police.
Thornberg commented on SR’s news, saying his April comments were based on “information available at the time.”
Inside the police, management has previously been criticized for insufficient preparedness. Dagens Nyheter reports (you switch to another service) in early May, some police believe the police leadership acted in a panic at Easter to get enough troops to quell the riots.
On Wednesday police said (moving to another service) made a request for an investigation into whether the organization had committed an offense in connection with the treatment of the riots. For example, the responsibility of the police for injuring police officers on the ground as employers is under investigation.