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11 held after suspected biker gang shootout wounds 8 in Sweden

Eleven men were being held on Monday morning after at least eight people were injured in a shooting in Mölnlycke.

Published: 5 November 2018 08:29 CET

11 held after suspected biker gang shootout wounds 8 in Sweden

Police at the scene of the shooting. Photo: Adam Ihse/TT

Several of the people injured are said to be part of motorcycle gang Hells Angels, reports Swedish news agency TT, although the prosecutor declined to confirm which groups were involved.

“The incident appears to have been sparked by a conflict, which either arose during the course of the evening or existed previously, between two different groups – one with links to motorcycle gangs and the other with local connections,” Sweden's prosecution authority said in a statement.

Seven people were taken to hospital in Gothenburg after the shootout on Saturday evening.

Some had gunshot wounds while others had been stabbed or assaulted. By Sunday evening one had been able to leave hospital, five were in stable condition and a seventh remained seriously injured. An eighth person believed to be linked to the incident sought care at a hospital in Skaraborg, writes TT.

The prosecutor has until Wednesday to decide whether to ask court to have the 11 men remanded in custody. They are aged between 25 and 50 and suspected on reasonable grounds of attempted murder and aggravated assault. Thirteen people were initially held. Of those, one had not yet been questioned by Sunday evening and another has been released.

Motorcycle gangs Hells Angels and Bandidos were involved in several violent conflicts in the 1990s, but since then such incidents have been less common in Sweden.

A forensic examination of the scene of the shooting, which took place at a party venue according to local media, was still ongoing on Sunday evening. The area, around 500 metres from the bus and railway station in Mölnlycke and home to a number of small businesses, was cordoned off.

Mölnlycke is located a couple of kilometres south-east of Gothenburg in western Sweden.

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EXPLAINED: What we know about the attack on a Swedish anti-fascist meeting

What happened?

Several masked men burst into a Stockholm theatre on Wednesday night and set off smoke bombs during an anti-fascism event, according to police and participants.

Around 50 people were taking part in the event at the Moment theatre in Gubbängen, a southern suburb of the Swedish capital, organised by the Left Party and the Green Party.

“Three people were taken by ambulance to hospital,” the police said on its website, shortly after the attack.

According to Swedish media, one person was physically assaulted and two had paint sprayed in their faces.

“The Nazis attacked visitors using physical violence, with pepper spray, and vandalised the venue before throwing in some kind of smoke grenade which filled the foyer with smoke,” Expo wrote on its website.

The magazine’s head of education Klara Ljungberg was at the event in order to hold a lecture at the invitation of the two political parties.

What was the meeting about?

According to the Left Party’s press officer, the event was “a meeting about growing fascism”.

Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar described the event to public broadcaster SVT as an “open event, for equality among individuals”.

As well as Ljungberg from Expo, panelists at the event included anti-fascist activist Mathias Wåg, who also writes for Swedish centre-left tabloid Aftonbladet.

“They were determined and went straight for me,” Wåg told Expo just after the attack. “I received a few blows but nothing that caused serious damage.”

“I was invited to be on a panel in order to discuss anti-fascism with representatives from the Left Party and the Green Party,” he told the magazine. “I didn’t know this was going to happen, but there’s obviously a risk when Expo and I are in the same place.”

What has the reaction been like?

All of Sweden’s parties across the political spectrum have denounced the attack, with Dadgostar describing it as a “threat to our democracy” when TT newswire interviewed her at the theatre a few hours after the attack occurred.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, from the conservative Moderates, called the attack “abhorrent”.

The Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals are currently in government with the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, while the Social Democrats, Left Party, Centre Party and Green Party are in opposition.

“It is appalling news that a meeting hosted by the Left Party has been stormed,” Kristersson told TT. “I have reached out to Nooshi Dadgostar and expressed my deepest support. This type of abhorrent action has no place in our free and open society.”

“Right-wing extremists want to scare us into silence,” Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson wrote on X. “They will never be allowed to succeed.”

“The attack by right-wing extremists at a political meeting is a direct attack on our democracy and freedom of speech,” Green Party co-leader Daniel Helldén wrote on X. “My thoughts are with those who were affected this evening.”

Sweden Democrat party leader Jimmie Åkesson wrote in an email to TT that “political violence is terrible, in all its forms, and does not belong in Sweden.”

“All democratic forces must stand in complete solidarity against all kinds of politically motivated violence,” he continued.

His party has previously admitted to being founded by people from “fascist movement” New Swedish Movement, skinheads, and people with “various types of neo-Nazi contact”.

“It is an attack not only on the Left Party, Green Party and the Expo Foundation, but also on our entire democratic society,” Centre Party leader Muharrem Demirok, who referred to the attackers as “Nazis”, wrote on social media. “Those affected have all my support.”

Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch and Liberal leader Johan Pehrson both referred to the attackers as “anti-democratic forces”.

“It is never acceptable for a political meeting to be stormed by anti-democratic forces,” Busch wrote. “There is no place for this in our society.”

“Anti-democratic forces like this represent a serious threat to our democracy and must be met with society’s hardest iron fist,” Pehrson said.

What about the attackers? Has anyone been arrested?

Not yet. The police had not made any arrests at the time of writing on Thursday morning.

According to TT, police did not want to comment on who could be behind the attack.

It is currently being investigated as a violation of the Flammable and Explosive Goods Act, assault, causing danger to others and disturbing public order.

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