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Police shoot knife attacker in Stureplan

Stockholm police shot and wounded a man after he threatened policemen with a knife in Stureplan, Stockholm late on Friday night.

Police shoot knife attacker in Stureplan

Two shots were fired as hundreds of people were queuing outside a restaurant in the square. The man, who was wounded in the foot by the second shot, was arrested late on Friday night.

Initial reports stated that the police fired two warning shots. How the second shot hit the attacker was unclear, according to police information officer Petra Sjölander.

“This is a matter for the police officers in charge of the investigation,” she said. The incident, which occurred a few minutes after midnight on Friday, was witnessed by Josefin, 21, and Lidia, 20, from the East Restaurant’s open-air patio.

“We first heard a bang, like a firecracker, and turned to look,” they told the TT news agency.

“We saw a man, about 35 years old, acting aggressively and waving a knife about. Then there was another shot and there was blood coming out of his foot. It was horrible,” added Josefin.

The shots were fired where Biblioteksgatan enters Stureplan. Hundreds of people were dining outside the restaurant at the time; many more were milling around or passing by.

Petra Sjölander confirmed that the man threatened the police with a knife. They told him to put down the knife, but he refused and moved closer to them.

The officers backed away towards the restaurant, but then moved into empty Biblioteksgatan. That’s when the first warning shot was fired, she said.

After the second shot, two security guards approached him from behind and overpowered him. No one else was injured in the shooting and despite a large police presence on the scene, the partying continued far into Saturday morning.

STOCKHOLM

Stockholm Pride is a little different this year: here’s what you need to know 

This week marks the beginning of Pride festivities in the Swedish capital. The tickets sold out immediately, for the partly in-person, partly digital events. 

Pride parade 2019
There won't be a Pride parade like the one in 2019 on the streets of Stockholm this year. Photo: Stina Stjernkvist/TT

You might have noticed rainbow flags popping up on major buildings in Stockholm, and on buses and trams. Sweden has more Pride festivals per capita than any other country and is the largest Pride celebration in the Nordic region, but the Stockholm event is by far the biggest.  

The Pride Parade, which usually attracts around 50,000 participants in a normal year, will be broadcast digitally from Södra Teatern on August 7th on Stockholm Pride’s website and social media. The two-hour broadcast will be led by tenor and debater Rickard Söderberg.

The two major venues of the festival are Pride House, located this year at the Clarion Hotel Stockholm at Skanstull in Södermalm, and Pride Stage, which is at Södra Teatern near Slussen.

“We are super happy with the layout and think it feels good for us as an organisation to slowly return to normal. There are so many who have longed for it,” chairperson of Stockholm Pride, Vix Herjeryd, told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

Tickets are required for all indoor events at Södra Teatern to limit the number of people indoors according to pandemic restrictions. But the entire stage programme will also be streamed on a big screen open air on Mosebacketerassen, which doesn’t require a ticket.  

You can read more about this year’s Pride programme on the Stockholm Pride website (in Swedish). 

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