Police suspect left-wing element in Kärrtorp clash

The Expressen newspaper on Wednesday reported that Swedish police now consider a further five people suspected of violent rioting in connection to the peaceful neighborhood anti-racism demonstration that went violently awry in December. 

The police are looking at the suspected involvement of three men, one woman, and a fifth person whose gender was not disclosed as he/she has a protected identity. Four of the suspects have ties to extreme-left organizations, the newspaper reported. 

Several alleged member of the extreme-right Swedish Resistance Movement have already faced charges at Södertörn District Court, south of central Stockholm. 

The suspected neo-Nazi leader allegedly at the helm of the violent altercation told court earlier this month that anti-racism demonstrators, or others present on December 15th,  attacked him and his friends, not the other way around.

"I didn't use violence against anyone, the only thing I did was to hold a camera," said the man, one of three suspects identified as leaders of the group. 

He said several people dressed in black had instead attacked them. The demo then descended into mayhem, with the understaffed Swedish police and several local residents herding the neo-Nazis out of the Stockholm suburb and into a nearby forest.

Prosecutors have brought charges of violent rioting (våldsamt upplopp) and hate speech (hets mot folkgrupp) against four suspects. Another three were charged with instigating violent rioting. The indictment stated that several of those charged threw bottles, rocks, and firecrackers at the peaceful demonstrators, several of whom attended the rally with their children.