Brutal charge: Swedish horse police trample anti-Nazi rally (GRAPHIC VIDEO)
At least 10 people were injured in the Swedish city of Malmö after local police unleashed a mounted charge at participants of a rally against Sweden’s neo-Nazi party. Clashes with police erupted as anti-fascist activists attempted to block a rival rally.
Around 1,500 people on Saturday gathered at the Limhamn square in
the center of Malmö to protest the planned speech by Stefan
Jacobsson, the leader of the neo-Nazi Svenskarnas Parti (The
Swedes’ Party).
The tension mounted even ahead of Jacobsson’s appearance, with
demonstrators throwing fire crackers and smoke bombs, the Local
reports.
Pictures from #Malmö demo | http://t.co/HUQWimKLUe#kämpamalmöpic.twitter.com/nSguSt42wn
— Anonymous Operations (@AnonOpsSE) August 23, 2014
The controversial politician was booed when he appeared on stage
as the crowd chanted: “No Nazis on our streets.”
But the violence broke out when Jacobsson completed his address,
with the scuffle starting between the protestors and the police.
(WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO BELOW)
According to Sydsvenkan paper, the majority of the protestors
were peaceful and the clashes were provoked by a group of
“provocateurs” among the anti-fascists.
Police then moved to forcefully disperse the rally using mounted
unit.
As chaos broke out in the square, several people fell on the
ground and were trampled by the horses, while another protestor
was hit by a police van.
Ten people were taken to hospital after the rally, with five of
them reportedly suffering serious injuries.
“I am shocked at the police’s excessive force,” Matilda
Renkvist, one of the organizer of the demonstration, said.
The police explained their actions by saying that they had to
intervene as the events escalated in the square
“We were forced to ride in because masked demonstrators had
moved to the outside of the square and we needed to make some
arrests,” Ewa-Gun Westford, police spokesman, told the TT
news agency.
Six people were detained following the clashes, with one person
being held on suspicion of assaulting a police office.
What a sad day in Sweden's #Malmö. Strange that @carlbildt preaches to "respect protestors" but then you see this. pic.twitter.com/pxI08KAJfP
— Russian Market (@russian_market) August 23, 2014
Jacobsson, who is campaigning for the Swedish general election on
September 14, held a speech in the town of Ystad earlier on
Saturday, which went on without incident.
“There was a great contrast between responses in Ystad and
Malmo,” the neo-Nazi leader told Realisten website. “In
Ystad, there were many who came to really listen to the speech,
while the events were marred by Leftist violence in Malmo where
it was rather counter-demonstrators, who had come to fight with
the police.”
This is not the first time Malmö has witnessed disturbing scenes
of violence during protests, in March 2013 a standoff between
anti-racist demonstrators and anti-Muslim group the Swedish
Defence League (SDL) was similarly dispersed by police using
horses, dogs and helicopters.
Swedish police with attack dogs, covering the identification numbers on their helmets #Malmö#Swedenpic.twitter.com/OchoVusGvq
— Horse Ebooks (@Hest_ebooks) August 23, 2014
