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RACISM

Danish politician target of racist abuse outside parliament

Member of the Danish parliament Sikandar Siddique and his parents were the target of racist verbal abuse during the assembly’s annual reopening day on Tuesday.

Danish MP Sikandar Siddique in parliament earlier this year. Siddique and his parents endured a racist verbal attack near Christiansborg on October 5th.
Danish MP Sikandar Siddique in parliament earlier this year. Siddique and his parents endured a racist verbal attack near Christiansborg on October 5th. Photo: Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen later condemned the incident in a social media post.

Siddique and his parents were accosted by a man wearing a t-shirt bearing the words “Fuck Islam” as left the parliament at Christiansborg.

The man told Siddique, along with his mother and 82-year-old father to “go home”. The incident was recorded on a video published by tabloid newspaper BT.

“Aren’t you planning to go home soon? You can take your parents with you, or whatever it is. Your Arabic culture has no place in Denmark, you’re not welcome here,” the man shouts in the video.

Siddique was born in Copenhagen and does not have Arabic heritage. His parents are originally from Pakistan.

Frederiksen subsequently strongly condemned the incident in a Facebook post.

“(Siddique) was yesterday subjected to an unheard-of racist attack right outside Christiansborg. That’s bad enough in itself. But what’s worse is that elderly parents were also subjected to an entirely unfair and boorish confrontation,” the PM wrote.

“I’m so upset about it that I will this evening ask parliament to reject the episode in unity. A racist attack on a family is an attack on all minorities. It has no place in Denmark,” she continued.

“And an attack on a democratically elected politician is an attack on democracy itself. Neither does this have any place in Denmark. My thoughts today go especially to Sikandar’s parents,” she added.

Siddique, a former member of the Alternative party who now sits as an independent, but is political spokesperson with the recently formed Independent Green Party, expressed his thanks after several political colleagues from both sides of the ideological divide pronounced their support.

“A thousand thanks for all the warm messages after what happened yesterday. It means very much, both for my parents and for me. We are fine under the circumstances and the police are now on the case,” he wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

READ ALSO: Danish parliamentarians split off to form ‘green, anti-racist party’

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DISCRIMINATION

LIST: Sweden’s biggest seven ‘me-too’ cases

The Christian Democrats' former Party Secretary Johan Ingerö, who was dismissed on Tuesday with immediate effect, is the most senior politician in Sweden to lose his job to a sexual misconduct allegation since the 'me too' movement exploded in 2017. Here's a quick recap of 'me too' in Sweden.

LIST: Sweden's biggest seven 'me-too' cases

The ‘me-too’ movement broke out after a report on the extent of sexual assault accusations against the film producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017, and saw women across the world name-and-shame high-profile people in politics they accused of behaving sexually inappropriately, sexually assaulting, or sexually harassing them. 

In Sweden, as elsewhere, the movement has had by far its biggest impact in the cultural sphere. We look at some of the biggest cases. 

POLITICS 

Tomas Eneroth (Social Democrats)

The former Social Democrat infrastructure minister, Tomas Eneroth, was in November 2021 accused of groping a female colleague at a party congress. Eneroth apologised for making his accuser uncomfortable and said he had not intended to touch her inappropriately. 

Eneroth’s home district in the Social Democratic party investigated that accusation and decided not to take any action against Eneroth. 

A public prosecutor dropped the case after interviewing witnesses present, saying that the contact had been “a fleeting touch” that could not be considered sexual harassment.

Kjell Ekelund (Social Democrats). 

Kjell Ekelund, a Social Democrat regional politician in Jönköping, was found guilty in court and fined for slapping a party colleague’s bottom during a party conference in 2022. Carina Ödebrink, the regional chair of the Social Democrats, only called on him to step down after he was found guilty, but he was not expelled from the party. 

Peter Lundgren (Sweden Democrats) 

The former Sweden Democrat MEP Peter Lundgren announced that he was leaving his party in March 2022, after he was found guilty of sexually molesting a party colleague in a hotel room three-and-a-half years previously. 

“After talks with Peter Lundgren we have come to a decision that the judgement in the high court makes it impossible for him to represent the party. He is therefore going to leave his membership in the party,” Sweden Democrat press secretary Christian Krappedal told TT. 

The Sweden Democrats party took no action to expel Lundgren until he was found guilty in court. He continued in his role as an independent MEP. 

CULTURE

Jean-Claude Arnault and the Nobel crisis

The accusations against Jean-Claude Arnault, the French husband of Katarina Frostenson, a senior member of the Swedish Academy, caused the award of the Nobel Price in Literature to be postponed for a year, and ended with Arnault being jailed for rape. 

The accusations against Arnault were first published in a series of articles in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper in which some 13 women, most of them anonymous, came forward to accuse Arnault, who had significant power in Sweden’s literary world through his cultural club Forum, of aggressive and inappropriate sexual behaviour, and even rape. 

One of the women later reported him for rape to the police, and he was found guilty both in Stockholm District Court and when the case went to appeal at the High Court. 

Martin Timell 

The Swedish TV presenter Martin Timell was removed by the broadcaster TV4 from the programmer Äntligen hemma (finally home) in 2017 after he was accused of sexual harassment, and the channel later stopped any work with Timell. 

Timell was reported for rape in November 2017, and was found innocent of all charges both in court and at appeal.  He received 8.9m kronor in damages from TV4. 

Benny Frederiksen 

Frederiksen was CEO and theatre chief at Stockholm City Theatre. He resigned in December 2017 after he was hit by accusations of presiding over a culture of sexual harassment at the theatre. He committed suicide in March 2018, after which a preliminary report from the investigation the theatre launched into the allegations concluded that there were in fact no one at the theatre had accused him of sexually inappropriate behaviour. 

Fredrik Virtanen

After Jean-Claude Arnault, Sweden’s most high-profile ‘me-too’ case have been that against the culture journalist Fredrik Virtanen. 

Cissi Wallin, an actress and feminist commentator, on October 16th 2017, accused Virtanen of raping her in 2006, even though she had reported the alleged rape to the police in 2011 and the case had been laid down. 

Virtanen was first suspended from his job at Aftonbladet, then deprived of his column, and then fired. 

In January 2018, Virtanen sued Wallin for libel. She was found guilty, fined, and ordered to pay Virtanen 80,000 kronor in damages. When she appealed, Sweden’s high court increased the damages to 100,000 kronor. 

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