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Watch: Elderly Swedish shopper totally undeterred by neo-Nazis

A Swedish woman in her 80s has become an unlikely social media hero after a video showed the octogenarian ploughing her shopping cart through a group of neo-Nazis.

Watch: Elderly Swedish shopper totally undeterred by neo-Nazis
Ingegerd with her shopping trolley. Photo: Tomas Ohlsson

Members of the Nordic Resistance Movement (Nordiska motståndsrörelsen, NMR) had gathered outside an Ica Maxi supermarket in Mölndal, south of Gothenburg, ahead of a planned march on Saturday.

But pensioner Ingegerd refused to let the black-clad neo-Nazi supporters deter her from her grocery shopping, and a video of her pushing her cart through the crowd has since gone viral in Sweden.

“I am angry. To come here and destroy… how much does all of this cost?! I'll drive straight into them, I'll drive straight into them,” she tells a reporter from Swedish left-wing newspaper ETC.

“With the trolley?” asks the reporter, who filmed the woman named as Ingegerd.

“Yes,” she replies, “that would be good, wouldn't it? I think this is just too sad.”

Ingegerd then pushes her shopping trolley towards the supermarket, through a group of a few dozen demonstrators who, according to reporter Eigil Söderin, “politely moved aside”.

When the reporter gets hold of Ingegerd on the phone a few days later, she is unfazed by the thousands of shares and views the video received on social media over the weekend.

“I've been busy with the dishes and my friends. It's all been blown a bit out of proportion. But my friends are telling me they would not have dared to do the same thing,” she told ETC on Monday.

“I did not think about the risk, my anger took over. The whole of Gothenburg was rebelling against the Nazis and when I suddenly had them in front of me I wanted to protest.”

Social media users are already comparing Ingegerd to an image often referred to as 'The old lady with the bag'. Hans Runesson's classic photo from 1985 depicts a woman in Växjö, southern Sweden, wielding  a handbag as a weapon against a neo-Nazi demonstrator. 

READ ALSO: Why this fearless woman is the talk of Sweden

A total of 23 people, including NMR leader Simon Lindberg, were arrested by prosecutors in connection with Saturday's violent march, which saw demonstrators clash with police and counter-protesters. Some violent elements of the counter-protesters also reportedly attacked police, including by throwing stones.

They were released from custody on Monday, but are still suspected of violent rioting.

“It can be noted that there is extensive video footage of the incident this weekend which is classified as a violent riot, which means we have a good picture of what has happened,” said prosecutor and lead investigator Ulrika Åberg in a statement.

Prosecutors have also received several reports of incitement of racial hatred in connection with the march, which are being looked at individually, said Sweden's prosecutorial authority.

Police, who had initially been criticized for allowing the march to go ahead, have been praised for the way they handled the situation when NMR protesters armed with shields tried to break out of the designated path.

Police held them back for hours and in the end the NMR supporters had to return to their starting point without ever completing the march.

“Together with thousands of determined citizens a clear line was drawn against the Nazis. The police managed at the same time to keep Nazis and violent counter-protesters apart,” said Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.