The US embassy in Stockholm. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT
A man was arrested in Stockholm on Sunday after bangers were thrown at the US embassy during a protest by neo-Nazi group the Nordic Resistance Movement (NMR).
Swedish anti-racism foundation Expo reported that a member of the embassy’s staff was injured when bangers were thrown over the fence into the complex by protesters from the NMR, who were demonstrating against the bombing of Syria.
The report that fireworks were thrown was confirmed to The Local by Mark Cameron from the US embassy in Stockholm.
“All we are saying just now is that we can confirm the event happened, but we’re referring everything else to the police, since it’s an ongoing investigation. Because it’s an ongoing investigation we’re not commenting on injuries,” Cameron told The Local.
MORE FROM THE LOCAL ON THE NMR:
A NMR march in Falun. Photo: Ulf Palm/TT
Kjell Lindgren from Stockholm police explained that the matter is now with the prosecutor, who must decide how to proceed due to an embassy being regarded as foreign territory.
“In connection with it someone was arrested suspected of attempted assault. He was questioned, then released as there wasn’t cause to keep him detained.
So now the ball is in the prosecutor’s court, who has to decide what kind of crime classification to use, because the embassy is treated as a foreign power’s territory and something was thrown into it. The prosecutor needs to decide on how the crime will be classified and we’ve not had that decision yet.”
“There’s no information of serious injuries, but then it’s a question of what you treat as an injury. A number of bangers were thrown in. If I for example had tinnitus as a result of a banger being thrown near me, I’d consider myself to be injured. That’s why we were saying that there were no serious injuries as far as we know,” he added.
Police would not comment on whether the person arrested was linked to the NMR, but the neo-Nazi group took credit for it on their website, where they wrote that after a speech on how “the only people who gain something from the attack (on Syria) is the global Zionist elite” the group then “let the war criminals taste their own medicine – by bombing the USA!”.
Source:.thelocal.se
