Demonstrators carried banners calling themselves “Ape son’s of bitches army against racism”. Several of the demonstrators bore paper masks depicting ape faces.

The demonstration began with a short speech in Rosengård, a predominantly immigrant suburb of Malmö, by local resident Pia Ibarra who drew reference to recent revelations of racism within Skåne police.

“We have been attacked by the police for years. The frightening thing now is that they do not even try to hide it,” Ibara said.

The demonstration received a large police escort as it made its way to the police station on Excercisgatan in central Malmö. Three short speeches were made and the crowd then dispersed.

Some stone throwing and an incident of suspected knife crime were reported by police who otherwise confirmed that the demonstration passed off peacefully.

A series of revelations have emerged in recent weeks including a police video with officers making racist and threatening comments and the use of names such as Neger (Negro) Niggersson and Oskar Neger for internal training purposes.

Sweden’s national police commissioner, Bengt Svensson, has since launched an independent inquiry into racism within the police force in Skåne in a bid to restore confidence in the police.

“The investigator will examine whether there are deficiencies in the work to build an ethical system of values within the Skåne police and what can be done differently. This has never been done before and is incredibly important,” Svensson said on launching the enquiry on February 7th.