Swedes Protest on Streets as Anti-Immigrants Enter Parliament

[pampango]

Source: Bloomberg

Thousands of Swedes demonstrated against the Swedish Democrats as Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt struggles to form a government that doesn’t have to rely on the anti-immigrant party after Sunday’s election.

About 10,000 people protested in central Stockholm late yesterday while in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-biggest city, 5,000 took part in a “sorrow march against racism” after the Swedish Democrats got 5.7 percent of votes and their first seats in parliament. About 2,000 protesters gathered in the southern city of Malmoe.

Protesters waved banners that declared their support for multiculturalism, including placards that said: “Refugees -- welcome!” and “No racists in our parliament.”

Reinfeldt, whose four-party coalition won 49.3 percent, has reached out to the Green Party, part of the three-party opposition bloc, to stop the Swedish Democrats from holding the balance of power. They have so far rejected his overtures. All groups in parliament have said they won’t work with the Swedish Democrats, who want to reduce immigration by 90 percent.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-21/swedes-throng-streets-to-protest-against-anti-immigrant-party-in-goverment.html

[LeftishBrit]

1. Good to hear that at least there's a lot of opposition to them!

[alp227]

3. Yeah, 50.7% of the parlaiment is non-SD so "a lot of opposition" makes sense

Reducing immigration by 90%? And how will Sweden enforce that? :shrug:

I can't believe this whole right-wing "blame immigrants first for the recession" ideology has spread to even that socialist politically correct paradise of Sweden. Conservatives will probably use the Swedish and British elections as examples of how liberalism is dying or something along that line.

[CJvR]

4. A first step.

If SD were to get a say on the subject would be by a total rejection of anchor immigration and, I suspect, by a strict enforcement of the first land rule.

[LeftishBrit]

5. It's fortunately much better than that; you are confusing two different political groupings

In fact, 95% of the Parliament is non-SD.

The political group that got 49.3 is the Alliance, a four-party centre-right coalition headed by the outgoing Prime Minister Reinfeldt. 'Centre-right' in the Swedish context ranges from people who'd be to the left of most American Democrats, to very economically right-wing, anti-welfare-state types. So it's a pretty uneasy coalition (sounds familiar to any other Brits on the board?!)

But even the most right-wing people in the coalition are not equivalent to the Swedish Democrats.

The question is whether any would consider going into some sort of coalition or at least agreement with the SDs to stay in power. I hope not.

At least the one good thing about our very frustrating and confusing recent British election is that our equivalent party to the SDs, the BNP, was very resoundingly trounced.

[EXneoCON]

2. If it can happen in Sweden....

[Vidar]

6. Kudos to the Swedes who are fighting back!