Cunning Swedish mayor keeps neo-Nazis at home
TT/The Local - [email protected]
Published: 2 May, 2015 CET.
Updated: Sat 2 May 2015 10:23 CET
The mayor of a town in southern Sweden kept members of the neo-Nazi Party of the Swedes off the streets for their annual May Day demonstration - thanks to pre-empting their moves a year in advance.
The demonstrations by the Party of the Swedes has deteriorated into violence in the past two years, and town officials had been left scratching their heads as to how to stop it from happening again.
Last year, officials considered denying the party a protest permit but feared such a move could make things even messier.
To prevent a repeat, Mayor Mats Green pre-empted that the party would seek another permit and booked out every single public area a year in advance - meaning the neo-Nazis simply had nowhere to go.
"It's time to take back this town and show the values that we are proud of," Green told the Jönköping-Posten newspaper at the time.
The party's May 1st demonstrations and marches in years past have made headlines the world over after resulting in violent clashes between the party and counter demonstrators.
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The demonstrations by the Party of the Swedes has deteriorated into violence in the past two years, and town officials had been left scratching their heads as to how to stop it from happening again.
Last year, officials considered denying the party a protest permit but feared such a move could make things even messier.
To prevent a repeat, Mayor Mats Green pre-empted that the party would seek another permit and booked out every single public area a year in advance - meaning the neo-Nazis simply had nowhere to go.
"It's time to take back this town and show the values that we are proud of," Green told the Jönköping-Posten newspaper at the time.
The party's May 1st demonstrations and marches in years past have made headlines the world over after resulting in violent clashes between the party and counter demonstrators.
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