Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

NEO-NAZI

Neo-Nazi arrested for assault at Gävle demo

A 35-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting another man in connection with a far-right demonstration in Gävle in northern Sweden on Saturday.

Published: 17 March 2013 08:06 CET
Updated: 17 March 2013 14:33 CET

The man is reported to have been seriously assaulted by neo-Nazis taking part in the demonstration by the Swedish Resistance Movement (Svenska motståndsrörelsen – SMR)) on Stortorget in the centre of the town.

Eye witnesses have reported how demonstrators punched and kicked the man, as well as assaulting him in the stomach with their banners.

The tumult began when a woman spectator started to film the demonstration and one of the demonstrators seized her mobile phone. When a man entered the fray to help the woman, the assault was then directed towards him.

The police used pepper spray to break up the melee and a 35-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault.

On their homepage the Swedish Resistance Movement claimed the punch up was caused by “anti-fascists” who had gathered to disturb their demonstration.

The SMR themselves named the arrested man as Pär Sjögren and stated that several members of their group tried to prevent the arrest using violence, giving up when the police used “tear gas” against them.

The Swedish Resistance Movement is recognised as one of the key members of the white power movement in Sweden and their publication material openly praises the life of Adolf Hitler.

TT/The Local/pvs

Follow The Local on Twitter

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

NEO-NAZI

Spain probes anti-Semitic speech at ‘horrific’ neo-Nazi rally

Prosecutors in Madrid on Tuesday said they had opened an investigation into anti-Semitic comments made at a neo-Nazi rally held at the weekend which drew ire from Spain's Jewish community.

Published: 17 February 2021 10:33 CET
Spain probes anti-Semitic speech at 'horrific' neo-Nazi rally
File photo of a man making a fascist salute in Madrid. Photo: AFP

The incident took place Saturday when around 300 people gathered at La Almudena cemetery, with footage on social media showing several people in the crowd repeatedly giving the Nazi salute.

The rally, which was also attended by a Catholic priest, was a commemoration of the so-called “Blue Division”, a unit of Spanish military volunteers that fought for the Nazis during World War II.

At the cemetery, they laid flowers in front of the memorial to the fallen Blue Division soldiers.

During the rally, a young woman gave an inflammatory speech echoing rhetoric from the 1930s.   

The region's prosecutors confirmed they had opened “criminal investigation to gather information about the anti-Semitic statements” which could constitute an offence relating to the exercise of fundamental rights and public freedoms, according to a statement received by AFP.    

“It is unacceptable that such serious anti-Semitic manifestations go unpunished,” said Isaac Benzaquen, head of the Spanish Federation of Jewish Communities, indicating that a complaint had been filed.

Israel's ambassador to Spain, Rodica Radian-Gordon, also tweeted her condemnation, saying the statements were “repugnant and have no place in a democratic society”.

And the American Jewish Committee (AJC) described the rally as “horrific”, calling on the Spanish government on Twitter “to censure these groups endangering democracy”.

At least 200,000 Spanish Jews were forced into exile by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492. Known as Sephardim — the Hebrew term for Jews of Spanish origin — many fled to the Ottoman Empire or North Africa and later to Latin America.   

Today the Jewish community in Spain numbers around 40,000 people, community sources say.

SHOW COMMENTS