Now the rally is over and the competitions are completed for this time. But the conflict between Ran Sami village and Rally Sweden has flared up again.
– When the Swedish rally goes home they have a serious situation to take hold of. They have to do their homework and feel whether they think this was good or not, says Maidi Eira Andersson, board member in the Sami village.
Erik Åström hopes that after the event you can continue to have a dialogue with the Sami village and that you can start talking earlier to avoid similar situations in the future. But the conversation climate is likely to be strained in the future.
– In this case, I chose to run over the Sami village on the issue. I understand that they are disappointed at me, says Erik Åström.
Listen to the clip why Rally Sweden chose to drive Umeå long despite the promise.
The appeal could not be processed
The Sami village appealed to the Swedish Transport Agency on the Friday before the rally, as the County Administrative Board had granted permission for three specific competition distances, including Umeå long. But the Swedish Transport Agency could not handle the appeal in time before the rally started, which the Sami village is very critical of.
“It means that our right to have the matter tested is purely practically impossible,” Maidi Eira Andersson told SVT earlier.
The application process for arranging a competition on the road means that the organizer must apply for a permit from the County Administrative Board no later than four months before the competition, which the rally did at the last moment, October 13.