The death of two Swedish football fans has awakened Swedes to think about their daily lives at home and abroad.
The Swedish flag, blue-and-yellow shirts and the Swedish language – there are signs that many Swedes have thought about avoiding after Monday night’s terrorist act.
On Monday evening, two Swedes were killed in Brussels, when a man who called himself a supporter of the terrorist organization ISIS shot at Swedish soccer fans.
There were Swedish football fans in the city at the time because of the European Championship qualifying match between Sweden and Belgium. Even before the match, there was a lot of blue-yellow color in the Belgian national stadium.
When the news of the terrorist act reached football fans before the start of the match, the blue-yellow color in the stadium decreased. According to witnesses, fan shirts were taken off.
– When traveling abroad now, you have to be careful and try not to show your Swedishness, says Eskil Sundkvist a day after the terrorist attack in Tukhoma.
Sundkvist is not the only one who says that in the future, for example, he will think about whether he plans to speak Swedish abroad.
Swedes’ sense of security has been shaken.
– It has felt that we are outside of the events of the world, but now the events are coming to our skin, says Soli Habolin.
Habolin considers the situation unreal. According to him, Swedishness is under threat.
Prime Minister of Sweden by Ulf Kristersson according to which Swedishness should not be hidden.
– Swedes should be able to walk around proud of their Swedishness, he said at the press conference held in connection with the terrorist attack.
Swedes associate the threat against them with Sweden’s numerous burnings of Islam’s holy book, the Koran. Burning is also used for fake news against Sweden.
According to official information, the 45-year-old perpetrator of the attack, identified as Tunisian, had moved to Sweden from Italy in 2016. After Sweden deported the man, Belgium later rejected his asylum application. Both Italian and Belgian authorities had suspicions that he might be a security threat.
Marie Wirz is therefore not surprised by the blow. Koran burnings and Swedish gang shootings have changed the security situation in Sweden, and the attack abroad did not come as a surprise.
– The situation has completely changed from what we are used to. Actually, I’m not particularly surprised.