(MENAFN- Hip Hop-24) Some parties in Sweden benefit from considering the incident of burning the Holy Qur’an “freedom of expression”, including the “Nordic Resistance Movement / NRM”, the largest neo-Nazi movement in the country.
Neo-Nazis continue their activities with great freedom in Sweden since the end of World War II, as this country classifies the Danish right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan''s burning of the Holy Qur''an as "freedom of expression."
According to information provided in public sources and the Swedish media, the "Swedish Resistance Movement / SMR" was founded by neo-Nazi nationalists in Sweden in 1997, and then turned into a movement covering the Scandinavian region after it opened branches in Finland in 2008, and in Norway in 2011.
The movement explicitly espouses racism and anti-immigrants and Jews and supports the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and not only targets Jews, but also people and groups that it deems do not agree with it ideologically, as it began targeting Muslims recently.
SMR founder Claas Lund was convicted in 1986 of killing anti-apartheid activist Ronnie Landin, who intervened to stop a neo-Nazi attack on 3 immigrants.
And in 2022, some members of the US Congress have called for the movement to be included in the list of foreign terrorist organizations.
- Expansion of the organization in the Scandinavian region
After the movement found supporters outside Sweden, it opened branches in Finland in 2008, and in Norway in 2011.
Per Oberg, a prominent member of the organization in Sweden, entered politics in 2014, when he was nominated by the Sweden Democrats (SD) in the 2014 local elections.
The movement was headed by Lund''s successor, Simon Lindbergh, in 2015.
In 2016, the movement changed its name to the "Scandinavian Resistance Movement" and established itself as the largest far-right party in Sweden.
The Nordic Resistance Movement participated in the Swedish general elections in 2018 and 2022, but failed to win seats in parliament.
The movement aims to overthrow the Scandinavian democracies, establish a unified and comprehensive national socialist power, and deport "the majority of those who are not from northern Europe or have no close ties with them," and carries out activities in this regard.
The movement calls itself the "National Socialists", and sees Hitler and the Danish Nazi ideologist Povl Reis Knudsen as a source of inspiration for it, and pursues a racist policy, mainly anti-Semitic.
Movement activities
According to Swedish officials, the organization has carried out improvised explosive device attacks in the city of Gothenburg since November 2016, targeting a cafe and a refugee shelter. Movement member Viktor Mellen has also been arrested.
In January 2017, the movement launched an explosive device attack near a refugee shelter, injuring an employee. On January 25, the Swedish authorities found an unexploded device near a refugee center, and announced that it was related to the November 2016 attack.
In July 2017, movement members Victor Melin, Jimmy Jonasson and Anton Thulin were sentenced to prison terms in connection with the aforementioned attack.
The movement targeted a Jewish association in the Swedish city of Umea with swastikas in April 2017, forcing the association to close due to these threats.
The Norse-Neyonazi resistance movement also targeted Jews in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland through hostile campaigns in September 2020, during Yom Kippur, which is one of the holiest occasions of the Hebrew calendar.
According to reports, the movement''s members are being trained in martial arts and how to act when violence occurs in the streets.
- The founders of the movement.. and violence
Many of the movement''s founders and early members were known for their violence against immigrants and homosexuals, and for financing the movement through bank robberies in the 1990s.
NRM leaders and members have also carried out several attacks with guns, knives, pepper spray and tear gas against Muslims.
Banned in Finland unlike Sweden
Finland decided to ban the New Nazi movement in 2020, after the movement began its activities in the country in 2008.
In September 2020, the Finnish Supreme Court announced the closure of the Scandinavian Resistance Movement in order to protect the general welfare of society.
While the movement defended itself by saying that its activities fall within the scope of freedom of expression, the court condemned the organization for repeatedly violating the law and human rights.
On the other hand, Sweden did not impose any ban on movement.
Muslims are more likely to be targeted
According to the latest report issued by the National Council for the Prevention of Crime of the Swedish Ministry of Justice, in 2021, 55 percent of hate crimes occurred due to racism, and 17 percent due to religious motives.
Of hate crimes against religious groups, 51 percent occurred due to Islamophobia, 27 percent motivated by anti-Semitism, 11 percent against Christians, and 11 percent against other groups.
With regard to hate crimes against Muslims, 38 percent of them were committed against Muslim women, and 22 percent against Muslim men.
- Increase in the popularity of the far right
The far-right Sweden Democrats party''s vote share rose to 20.5 percent in the September 2022 elections.
More than one in five Swedes voted for the Sweden Democrats, founded in 1988, as the largest right-wing party with an absolute majority in Parliament.
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