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Two arrested for Gothenburg bomb threat

Two people were formally arrested by Swedish police on Saturday in connection with a bomb threat in Gothenburg, while vigilance continued to be maintained in the city.

Several people were detained by Swedish police on Saturday in connection with the bomb threat in the western Swedish city, all but two have now been released but all remain interesting to the investigation.

The alleged offences involving both those arrested and those released have been classified as conspiring to commit terrorist attacks. Aside from that the police remain restrictive with details concerning the case.

“We know that this is diffuse and mysterious. But it could be that you are going to have an ‘aha reaction’ in hindsight and understand why we choose to work in this way,” said police spokesperson Björn Blixter.

Blixter concluded that the police were satisfied with their work.

“There remains no one on the loose,” he said, adding that interviews have been conducted with the suspects during the course of the day.

According to broadcaster TV4 three people, all men, were detained in the Angered district of the Gothenburg, but the police have not confirmed the number of suspects involved in the case.

Despite the arrests the threat remains, police have confirmed, but declined to elaborate on whether there were further possible suspects.

“The threat against central Gothenburg has not been warded off with today’s arrests. We stand by what we said initially, which is that a bomb is to be detonated somewhere in central Gothenburg on Saturday,” said Björn Blixter.

Police revealed Friday that they had been tipped off “by a credible source” that a bomb attack was planned in central Gothenburg.

There is currently no indication that the raised threat level will continue throughout Sunday, but the police will retain their higher profile in central Gothenburg during the day.

“We don’t know if we have all the people involved and what else could happen, therefore we want to retain our pledge to retain a broad presence in the city centre,” Blixter said.

A decision will be taken over the threat level on Sunday, he said.

According to TV4 national police units have been called in to Gothenburg.

Despite the bomb threat, retailers have been operating as normal for a Saturday and the city centre has been thronging with people.

“Those behind this are not going to stop me. They should not win,” said Mari-Ann Wallander, who has been in the city centre several times during the day.

Sweden’s Security Service (Säpo) said it was working closely with Gothenburg police but the terrorist alert level remained unchanged.

The terrorism alert level was raised by one point in October from “weak” (two on a scale of five) to three because of the perceived increased threat of terrorism in Europe.

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POLITICS

Red-green coalition takes power in Gothenburg

The Social Democrats, Green Party and Left Party have managed to oust the right-wing Moderates from power in Gothenburg, despite failing to strike a coalition deal with the Centre Party.

Red-green coalition takes power in Gothenburg

The Social Democrats, Left Party and Green Party will now take over the municipality with Jonas Attenius, group leader for the Social Democrats in the city, becoming the new mayor.

“We three parties are ready to together take responsibility for leading Gothenburg,” Attenius wrote to TT. “I am looking forward immensely to leading Gothenburg in the coming years.” 

The three parties will lead a minority government, with 40 out of 81 mandates, meaning it will dependent on mandates from the Centre Party to pass proposals. 

The three parties had hoped to bring the Centre Party into the coalition, but talks fell apart on Monday,  October 24th. 

“We our going into opposition, but our goal is to be an independent, liberal force, which can negotiate both to the left and to the right,” the party’s group leader in Gothenburg, Emmyly Bönfors told the Göteborgs-Posten newspaper. 

The end of talks in Gothenburg leave the Social Democrats leading coalition governments in all three of Sweden’s major cities, with Karin Wanngård appointed Mayor of Stockholm on October 17th. 

The Social Democrats had unbroken control in Malmö since 1994, after they regained power from the Moderates, who controlled the city from 1991-1994, and also from 1985-1988. 

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