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ISRAEL

Malmö calm as Davis Cup gets underway

As the dust settled on the morning after the first day of competition in the Davis Cup match between Sweden and Israel in Malmö none of the predictions of trouble and fighting had been fulfilled.

Malmö calm as Davis Cup gets underway

The Local reported on Friday that demonstrators had begun to gather outside the Baltiska Hallen arena in the southern Swedish city of Malmö to protest against the Davis Cup match between Sweden and Israel.

The controversy over the match has been building for weeks and the police presence in Malmö on Friday numbered some 1,000 officers.

But the expected trouble was not realized and the protests, and the first round of matches, passed off peacefully. Not a single arrest or disturbance was reported by Malmö police during the evening.

“We have had more people than usual out on the town but nothing has happened that can be connected to the tennis. It has been very calm,” according to Lars Mahler at Malmö police.

Meanwhile in the near empty arena, former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, 33, took four hours to give the Swedes a 1-0 lead thanks to a 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 8-6 win over Harel Levy.

But Dudi Sela then saw off Andreas Vinciguerra 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 11-9 to

level the tie.

The match continues on Saturday and Malmö’s Baltiska Hallen will remain empty of supporters following a controversial decision by the City of Malmö last week.

Media reports indicate that around 200 demonstrators had gathered outside the arena on Friday. The Social Democratic youth league (SSU) is expected to organize further protests on Saturday alongside the “Stop the match” network.

“We now hope that people will be as well-behaved today,” Mahler said.

PROTESTS

Calls for special police tactics to be available across Sweden

The chairwoman of the Police Association West Region has said that police special tactics, known as Särskild polistaktik or SPT, should be available across Sweden, to use in demonstrations similar to those during the Easter weekend.

Calls for special police tactics to be available across Sweden

SPT, (Särskild polistaktik), is a tactic where the police work with communication rather than physical measures to reduce the risk of conflicts during events like demonstrations.

Tactics include knowledge about how social movements function and how crowds act, as well as understanding how individuals and groups act in a given situation. Police may attempt to engage in collaboration and trust building, which they are specially trained to do.

Katharina von Sydow, chairwoman of the Police Association West Region, told Swedish Radio P4 West that the concept should exist throughout the country.

“We have nothing to defend ourselves within 10 to 15 metres. We need tools to stop this type of violent riot without doing too much damage,” she said.

SPT is used in the West region, the South region and in Stockholm, which doesn’t cover all the places where the Easter weekend riots took place.

In the wake of the riots, police unions and the police’s chief safety representative had a meeting with the National Police Chief, Anders Tornberg, and demanded an evaluation of the police’s work. Katharina von Sydow now hopes that the tactics will be introduced everywhere.

“This concept must exist throughout the country”, she said.

During the Easter weekend around 200 people were involved in riots after a planned demonstration by anti-Muslim Danish politician Rasmus Paludan and his party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), that included the burning of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

Police revealed on Friday that at least 104 officers were injured in counter-demonstrations that they say were hijacked by criminal gangs intent on targeting the police. 

Forty people were arrested and police are continuing to investigate the violent riots for which they admitted they were unprepared. 

Paludan’s application for another demonstration this weekend was rejected by police.

In Norway on Saturday, police used tear gas against several people during a Koran-burning demonstration after hundreds of counter-demonstrators clashed with police in the town of Sandefjord.

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