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Swedish police ready for election-year Almedalen forum

The Local Sweden
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Swedish police ready for election-year Almedalen forum
File photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT

Emotions may run high at this year’s Almedalen Week political forum and Swedish police say they will be ready.

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The 2018 iteration marks the 50th anniversary of the annual event, which gathers Sweden’s political, business and media elite together on a small corner on the island of Gotland. 
 
In addition to marking a half century of the political week, this year’s Almedalen also takes place just months before a national election. As a result, police say they will pay extra attention to security this year. 
 
“We feel ready and we have also taken into consideration that this is on an island and that it can be difficult to quickly access your resources,” police spokeswoman Annika Lindroth told broadcaster SVT
 
 
Keeping with policy from previous years, police have declined to say how many officers will be at Almedalen. 
 
“But I want to say that this should be a week for politicians, not a week for the police. There shouldn’t be three million police out on the streets so we’ll be a bit hidden,” Lindroth said. 
 
She added that police were satisfied with their use of drones and surveillance cameras last year “to investigate crimes and identify both perpetrators and plaintiffs” and plan to use them again at this year’s event, which kicks off on Sunday and continues through July 8th. 
 
According to local newspaper Hela Gotland, anti-terror measures including steel barriers to keep vehicles away from crowds will be used throughout the week’s festivities. 
 
If you’re attending the 50th anniversary of Almedalen, be sure to stop by The Local’s ‘Wimbledalen’ event at the Visby tennis hall on Thursday. More information is available here

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