Nazi Threat Stalks Bucolic Swedish Political Fest
- Police flooded with complaints over violence, hate speech
- Sweden faces election in September as nationalists gain
Photographer: Markku Ulander/AFP via Getty Images
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Sweden’s annual celebration of democracy (and lobbying) in the idyllic medieval town of Visby was under siege last week.
Almedalen week, a gathering of politicians, executives, lobbyist, activists and a sea of media, has become a growing target of far-right extremists, who demonstrated, disrupted speeches and attacked people in the cobblestoned alleys of the old Hanseatic town on the island of Gotland. Complaints to the police more than doubled this year, with charges of assaults, hate speech and agitation against ethnic groups, according to the TT news agency.