The city councils and municipality governments of the Swedish cities of Norrköping and Linköping wants the Danish extreme right organisation Stram Kurs and its leader, riot-provocateur and Koran-burner Rasmus Paludan out. They have asked the Swedish police to no longer allow manifestations of either one in their cities, after Easter weekend riots across Sweden left people wounded and caused loads of damages.
Featured photo: Central Linköping on a sunny spring day (Photo by Marcel Burger)
Apart from the two cities in Southcentral Sweden, riots also caused troubles elsewhere. In Stockholm suburb Rinkeby youngsters from age 12 threw stones at the police, causing a dilemma for officers to use the weapon stick or not, a spokesperson said to national broadcasting company SVT. In Örebro rioteers put three police vans on fire, in Malmö a city bus went up in flames. There were less sever riots in Landskrona. Police bullets wounded three in Norrköping on Sunday, as warning shots ricochetted during the second round of riots there during the Easter weekend. Seven others were transported to hospital as well.
Apart from social issues in many Swedish neighbourhoods, the riots show the discrepency between freedom of speech and the right to demonstrate – a great good in Sweden – and the risk for public disorder. In Sweden it is neither the mayor or the municipality that decides over who can demonstrate or not, but the police. The police almost never says no to demonstrations, but the past years critics including university professor in public right have questioned the police’s interpretation of the law. | © 2022 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com