Left leader condemns attack on far-right
Left Party leader Lars Ohly has condemned an attack on a local politician representing the far-right Sweden Democrats in Malmö on Friday, while the party on Monday suspended a rally in Gothenburg due to a counter-demonstration.
According to Malmö police two masked men forced their way into David von Arnold Antoni's apartment in Malmö on Friday night.
"They cut a swastika in my forehead," Antoni said according to the local Sydsvenskan daily.
Malmö police have confirmed only that the local Sweden Democrat politician was held down by one man while the other cut him.
"We have decided to put a lid on the investigation," said Lars-Håkan Lindholm at Malmö police to news agency TT, confirming that the incident has been classified as aggravated assault, aggravated theft and illegal threats.
Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson published an open letter on Monday, calling on national party leaders to condemn the attack and the Left Party's Lars Ohly duly obliged on Monday afternoon.
"I can't describe the repulsion I feel for this. I oppose the Sweden Democrats' politics by all the democratic means I have at my disposal, but there is a clear line. Threats and violence must never occur and that is something that we in the Left Party are very clear on," he said.
Elsewhere on Monday, the Sweden Democrats were obliged to postpone a rally on Kungsportsplatsen in Gothenburg when they were outnumbered by a crowd of counter-demonstrators.
While the stand-off between police and counter-demonstrators from the Gothenburg network against racism passed off peacefully, the Sweden Democrats were forced to acquiesce.
"We are doing this to show that there is resistance to their racism," Stefan Berg of the Socialist Justice Party (Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna - RS), told local daily Göteborgs-Posten.
While there has been no analysis made of any incidents of harassment and violence during the 2010 election campaign, a study conducted after the EU parliamentary elections in 2009 showed that autonomous left groups such as the Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) or the Revolutionary Front stood behind the majority of any violence.
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According to Malmö police two masked men forced their way into David von Arnold Antoni's apartment in Malmö on Friday night.
"They cut a swastika in my forehead," Antoni said according to the local Sydsvenskan daily.
Malmö police have confirmed only that the local Sweden Democrat politician was held down by one man while the other cut him.
"We have decided to put a lid on the investigation," said Lars-Håkan Lindholm at Malmö police to news agency TT, confirming that the incident has been classified as aggravated assault, aggravated theft and illegal threats.
Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson published an open letter on Monday, calling on national party leaders to condemn the attack and the Left Party's Lars Ohly duly obliged on Monday afternoon.
"I can't describe the repulsion I feel for this. I oppose the Sweden Democrats' politics by all the democratic means I have at my disposal, but there is a clear line. Threats and violence must never occur and that is something that we in the Left Party are very clear on," he said.
Elsewhere on Monday, the Sweden Democrats were obliged to postpone a rally on Kungsportsplatsen in Gothenburg when they were outnumbered by a crowd of counter-demonstrators.
While the stand-off between police and counter-demonstrators from the Gothenburg network against racism passed off peacefully, the Sweden Democrats were forced to acquiesce.
"We are doing this to show that there is resistance to their racism," Stefan Berg of the Socialist Justice Party (Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna - RS), told local daily Göteborgs-Posten.
While there has been no analysis made of any incidents of harassment and violence during the 2010 election campaign, a study conducted after the EU parliamentary elections in 2009 showed that autonomous left groups such as the Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) or the Revolutionary Front stood behind the majority of any violence.
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