We Watched Fascists, Police and Anti-Fascists Trying to Fight in Stockholm

At 12 o'clock on Saturday, extreme-nationalist party Svenskarnas Parti (SvP) gathered in Stockholm's Humlegården to demonstrate their right to be Swedish in Sweden. The demonstration was the start-off point of their nationwide campaign, "Thousands of years of Swedishness – don't break our blue-yellow bonds," which according to SvP's party leader Stefan Jacobsson, is aimed specifically at young people.

I don't want to sound like a know-it-all or anything, but here's a tip: if you want to reach young people you should probably scrap that motto of referring to the Stone Age and develop a Swedish app for iPad or something instead.

Either way, SvP supporters could buy pins in the shape of blue-yellow bonds that look similar to those pins supporting breast cancer for a bargain 100 Swedish kronors. Here's another tip: kids like stuff that are free.

Apparently the money cashed in on the pins will support SvP's new initiative to give Swedish parents financial support with their new-born Swedish babies – a very frightening thought that brought most people in Humlegården on Saturday back to the 1940s. What's even more scary is that SvP's supporters welcomed the initiative with applauds while press and outsiders laughed nervously and horrified. The demonstration started off with three speeches, followed by a parade through central Stockholm, and finished off in another park, Observatorielunden approximately two kilometres away. SvP expected to be followed by counter-demonstrators protesting against their xenophobic politics and had scheduled that the complete time for the parade (a walk that usually takes around 25 minutes) would be around five hours, including speeches and two verses of the national anthem.  However, by the time their second speaker, Daniel Spansk entered the stage, counter-demonstrators who were sick of waiting around for SvP in their designated demonstration area, Hötorget, had gathered in Humlegården, too, to speak their mind: "No Nazis on our streets" and "Shut the fuck up!" were the messages.

The parade of around 250 people got heavily delayed as counter-demonstrators threw water balloons while police vans, police on horsebacks and riot police followed the parade up-close. By the time SvP had reached Stureplan in central Stockholm, attempts to overthrow the parade had been made several times, and firecrackers, water balloons and beer cans ended up in masses of people who were not taking part of the demonstrations – and were only trying to enjoy their Saturday off with some shopping. At one point people ran for cover inside a Zara-store when one SvP-supporter threw a firecracker on a shop window in attempt to protect his group.

At the same time, anti-fascists who had gathered at Hötorget prepared for SvP. “Nothing will change. But we have to show the Nazis that they’re not welcome on our streets. And every bit of action counts to discourage their disgraceful behaviour,” said Victor, a 20-year-old student who was volunteering as a medic, sporting a hand-painted red cross safety-pinned to his sleeve. When the parade had reached Sveavägen, the main street leading to their final destination, several spectators had seen SvP-supporters throwing firecrackers and bottles at crowds without police interfering, despite the fact that anti-fascists had been arrested each time an attempt of throwing something at the SvP supporters had been made. This caused the situation to be even more heated, with one guy telling us that, "the police's job to protect the Nazis only allows them to do whatever the fuck they want!" One police officer told us however, that all police wanted to do was to make sure the parade got over and done with as neat and smooth as possible. "These guys [SvP] are so easily agitated, so interfering too much with them will only cause reasons for riots. And we don't want that." When time had reached about 5 PM – an hour past the booked demonstration time, the tension had died down as the protestors realised that the police would immediately crush any attempt at direct contact with SvP. The 200 people who had lingered on merely resorted to their insults and chants, which had little effect on SvP’s gathering of about 50. The SvP members were eventually ushered into the metro under close police protection, while the protestors left for their Saturday night beers to soothe their sore throats and angry hearts.

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