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'An assault on democracy': Swedish leaders react to violence in Washington DC

The Local Sweden
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'An assault on democracy': Swedish leaders react to violence in Washington DC
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT

Swedish politicians have condemned a night of violence in the capital city of the US, after a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building.

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Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said in a tweet in English that the attack was "an assault on democracy" and that Trump and several Congress members "bear substantial responsibility for developments".

Foreign Minister Ann Linde used similar wording in her own statement, calling on the democratic process to be respected. "President Trump has a responsibility to stand up for the democratic process," she tweeted.

President Trump called on the rioters to leave after the crowds broke into the building, but his comments were blocked by multiple social media platforms for inciting violence as he repeated claims of election fraud without evidence and told the protesters in the same speech: "You are very special, we love you."

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As of Thursday morning, four people had been reported dead as a result of the attack, including one woman shot by police and three who died in separate 'medical emergencies'. Over 50 protesters had been arrested.

The chaos unleased on the US Capitol dominated Swedish news headlines on Thursday.

Centre-left newspaper Aftonbladet's columnist Wolfgang Hansson called it "Trump's last desperate attempt to cling on to power". Its liberal competitor Expressen's Jens Liljestrand hoped it would be a "wake-up call for politicians across the world" that democracy "must never be taken for granted", and right-wing Bulletin's columnist Per Gudmundson slammed the outgoing president as a "pathetic criminal".

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Anonymous 2021/01/08 09:55
Trump has always got his own way, in whatever he has chosen to do. He has never, it seems, tasted defeat. His presidency has been a nightmare, a selfish egotistical man who has chosen to create a country already torn between two political poles and use his divisive rhetoric to wrench an even wider gash with his promises.<br /><br />He has no idea how to accept defeat, graciously or otherwise, and his misdemeanours when President need to result in him being brought to account.<br /><br />In some ways, the American people have been cheated out of four years of growth by choosing two of the most disliked candidates in 2016 in Trump and Hilary Clinton. Now Joe Biden has been elected as the man to bring about peace in his own country. It will not be an easy task. There will be dark days ahead, but let's hope the American people give him a chance to heal the serious wounds on the American body.

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