Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Hundreds mourn teen murdered in Malmö

Hundreds of the friends, family and neighbours of the teenage boy shot dead in Malmö gathered on Friday evening for a sombre but defiant demonstration in his memory, as police pledged to bring an end to the murder wave sweeping the city.

Published: 14 January 2017 14:03 CET
Hundreds mourn teen murdered in Malmö
Mourners lit candles around the bus stop. Photo: Andreas Hillergren/TT
Mourners lit candles and laid flowers at the bus stop in Malmö’s Rosengård district where Ahmed Obaid, 16, was shot dead by as-yet unknown gunmen on Thursday evening. 
 
”We are gathered here to say: ‘That’s it now. It’s enough,” Redha Habib, a small businesswoman who represents the Iraqi community, told the crowd.
 
“Why is it always the best ones who are taken. Why?” Obaid’s cousin Ruaa Abbas told the local Sydsvenskan newspaper. “He wanted to be a doctor. He was going to have a maths test today and he had just bought a new calculator. I never thought that the violence would come so close to me. I still can’t grasp it.” 
 
Malmö police on Saturday branded the shooting “a special event” allowing them to release more resources to track down the killers. But by Saturday morning they admitted they had yet to make a breakthrough. 
 
“We want to make contact with everyone who knows something, has seen something, or has anything whatsoever that can help us,” police press spokesman Lars Förstell told the Sydsvenskan newspaper. 
 
Police do not believe that the boy's death is linked to Malmö's gangs, as the boy had no criminal record and was not previously known to the police.
 
Swedish Home Affairs minister Anders Ygeman on Friday pledged to do everything in his power to end the growing violence in the city, with 12 murders taking place in Malmö in 2016, a murder rate around three times that of London according to a report by the Reuters news agency.
 
“The presence of police must improve in socially exposed areas and the people guilty of these crimes must be put behind bars,” Ygeman told the TT newswire. “We are ready to offer the necessary resources and legislation to change the situation.”
 
Ygeman is travelling to Malmo next week to meet with city officials.
 
Rosengård locals told Sydsvenksan at the memorial that they wanted more police on the ground in the area as well as tougher penalties for criminals. 
 
“I really sympathise with the police,” Zeinab Bazzi told the paper. “They take a huge amount of shit, and I understand that they can’t watch our building 24 hours a day. They also must feel betrayed when criminals are let out of prison after only a month or two.” 
 
The local Sydsvenskan newspaper on Friday launched a campaign Framåt Malmö or Forward Malmö to push to improve conditions in the city. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

EUROVISION

IN PICTURES: Thousands march in Malmö to protest Israel’s Eurovision entry

Thousands of people marched through Malmö to protest Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest over the Gaza war.

Published: 10 May 2024 05:59 CEST
IN PICTURES: Thousands march in Malmö to protest Israel's Eurovision entry

Singer Eden Golan performed her song “Hurricane” in Thursday’s second semi-final without incident in front of 9,000 spectators at the Malmö Arena and booked her place in Saturday’s final after a televote.

Earlier in the day, more than 10,000 people including climate activist Greta Thunberg gathered in Malmö’s main square before marching through the southern Swedish city’s central pedestrian shopping street, according to police estimates.

A sign reading ‘Welcome to Genocide Song Contest’. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

“I am a Eurovision fan and it breaks my heart, but I’m boycotting,” 30-year-old protester Hilda, who did not want to provide her surname, told AFP.

“I can’t have fun knowing that Israel is there participating when all those kids are dying. I think it’s just wrong.”

Alongside signs that read: “Liberate Palestine”, banners that said “EUR legitimises genocide” and “colonialism cannot be washed in pink” could be seen in the crowd.

About 50 protesters made it to the front of the Malmö Arena, where the event is taking place, before being dispersed by a heavy police presence. Protesters also entered the Eurovision Village, where spectators can follow the concert on large screens.

In a different neighbourhood, about 100 counter-protesters gathered under police protection to express their support for Israel.

A demonstration in support of Israel’s Eurovision entry at the Davidhall square. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

According to police, nine people in total on Thursday were held for breaching public order and one person on suspicion of carrying a knife, but otherwise police described the protests as calm considering the thousands of people who participated.

Earlier on Thursday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday wished Golan good luck and said she had “already won” by enduring the protests that he called a “horrible wave of anti-Semitism”.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’ unprecedented October 7th attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Militants also took about 250 hostages. Israel estimates 128 of them remain in Gaza, including 36 who officials say are dead.

Police estimated that the protest drew around 10,000-12,000 people. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Israel in response vowed to crush Hamas and launched a military offensive that has killed at least 34,904 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Protests calling for an end to Israel’s punishing Gaza campaign have broken out on university campuses in North America, Europe and Australia.

‘Why not for Israel?’

In 2022, Russia’s state broadcaster was excluded from the European Broadcasting Union, which oversees Eurovision, in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

“I feel like if they can remove Russia why can they not do it to Israel?” said protester Marwo Mustafa.

“Hurricane” has already been partially re-written and given a new title after Eurovision organisers deemed the original version to be too political.

Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Since the beginning of the year, several petitions have demanded Israel’s exclusion from the 68th edition of the annual music competition, which opened with the first semi-final on Tuesday.

At the end of March, contestants from nine countries, including Swiss favourite Nemo, called for a lasting ceasefire.

Protester Cecilia Brudell told AFP: “At six and nine, my children are now at an age where they want to watch Eurovision but this year we are completely boycotting it.”

SHOW COMMENTS