A Swedish ‘anti-racism’ magazine has claimed far right street vigilante groups are on the rise, often in reaction to events associated with the Europe migrant crisis.
Jonathan Leman, a researcher at the anti-Nazi magazine “Expo” says that many cities and municipalities in Sweden are seeing a rise in street level activism from the far right, likely in response to the perceived ineffectual government policy in dealing with migrant crime, reports the Göteborgs-Posten.
Leman claims the “White Power” movement sank to an all time low last year after the demise of the Swedish Nazi party but the migrant crisis has led to a rebound of their activities. The trend he sees is in vigilante groups on the streets of cities; these so called “street units” have appeared in several cities across Sweden including Gothenburg, Stockholm and Osterlund.
The groups do not self-identify as Nazis or white power activists but rather as citizen’s militias or security, as was the case in February of this year when five individuals showed up at a swimming pool in response to the attacks on young children by migrant men. Breitbart London has reported at length on these attacks, as well as on the response to them, including a women’s vigilante group in Sweden.
Other organisations hailing from the nationalist left clearly align themselves with Nazi symbols and ideology. The so-called “Nazi Nordic Council of Resistance,” set up a tent in the centre of Gothenburg at Gustaf Adolphus square where they served soup to poor Swedes. The group managed to get police permission to hold the event and it saw a counter demonstration from the Kurdish community in the city.
The group also appeared in Stockholm three weeks earlier, targeting migrants with violence in response to the sexual attacks at the Stockholm train station on women who were groped by roaming gangs of migrant men.
Leman claims that the retaliation at the Stockholm train station in particular shows a direct connection between neo-nazis and extreme football hooligans. He also asserts that the presence of unofficial security forces keeping an eye on migrant crime builds tension rather than subduing it, he says.
While the Swedish Nazi party died Leman claims that it’s ideas and legacy are being continued through these street activists and that the biggest change since last summer is that he feels more and more racists are attaching themselves to the Sweden Democrats to spread their message.
“You also see this in the multitude of Sweden Democrats Facebook groups where the Nazis posts are mixed with SD messages, it’s a mess,” Leman said.
The Sweden Democrats are used to such wild accusations and have even been falsely labelled a neo-nazi party by the BBC. A spokesman from the party told Breitbart, “they are further stigmatising ordinary people from voicing their concerns since they will be afraid to be branded by the media.” They said the mainstream Swedish press had become “deranged”, a statement which may cast some doubt on a magazine that self identifies as far left.
Daniel Norlander agrees with Leman on the subject. Norlander, who is the Secretary of the Mona Sahlin committee against violent extremism, says that the rise of Islamists in the city is being countered with the rise of Nazis in smaller towns. He describes a trip he took to one of the small towns in Sweden in which the far right is gaining in popularity due to the inability of authorities to deal with trouble making migrants.
He said: “They had problems in the swimming baths with unaccompanied youth who messed up, did not bother to wash themselves before they went into the water with clothes on. It was not a police problem, but municipal staff dared not touch it for fear of being called racists”.
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