'Multiculturalism not to blame': Jimmie Åkesson

The head of the Sweden Democrats, who earlier condemned the attacks in Norway, on Wednesday rejected the comments of a local politician that they were a result of multiculturalism.

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"I don't share that analysis at all," Sweden Democrats (SD) leader Jimmie
Åkesson said in remarks published Wednesday in the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD)
daily.

Åkesson was reacting to comments made by a local SD politician earlier this week, who wrote in a blog post that "the massacre (in Norway) was a result of multiculturalism."

"That is what multiculturalism does, it creates conflicts between people, leads to hate, violence and an altogether brutalisation of society," Erik Hellsborn, a 27-year-old local politician in Varberg in western Sweden wrote on his blog.

"If there was no Islamisation or mass immigration there would not have been anything to trigger (the self-confessed perpetrator of the twin Norwegian attacks Anders) Behring Breivik to do what he did," he added.

The SD quickly distanced itself from the remark and Hellsborn removed the blog entry shortly after it was posted Sunday.

On Tuesday, Hellsborn backtracked, saying the perpetrator was responsible for what he did, and he announced Wednesday he was taking a time-out from blogging.

In Wednesday's SvD interview, Åkesson said "one can't blame an individual's actions on social structures like that."

"I don't think you should make politics of (the attacks), whether you are a Sweden Democrat, a Social Democrat, a Moderate or whatever ... I just think it's wrong," he told the daily.

Sweden Democrat MP Kent Ekeroth also courted controversy on the evening of the attacks when used his twitter to ask: "Anyone care to guess who is behind the bombs in Norway?.

He was warned by party secretary Björn Söder not to speculate before the cause of the attacks was known, but proceeded to write: "No I am not going to call you Islamophobes".

Press secretary to Jimmie Åkesson, Linus Bylund, was also quick to draw conclusions, tweeting: "The next bastard who gushes about how sad it is for the nice Muslims when bleeding Norwegians are all over the streets will be blocked".

Åkesson's far-right, anti-immigration and anti-Muslim party entered parliament for the first time after last year's elections, taking 20 seats and the role of kingmaker in parliament.

On Saturday the party head issued a statement condemning the attacks, which left 76 dead in Norway's worst bloodshed since WWII.

"Our thoughts are with the victims, their relatives and all the Norwegian people," Åkesson said.

He called the twin massacres "an attack on democratic society."

"In such times, it is important to stress that we will never accept that violence and terror take root in our democratic and open society," he said.

Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year-old Norwegian, has confessed to planting a car bomb in Oslo's government quarter and to a shooting spree on an island where the Labour party was holding its youth camp.

He says he was on a crusade to save Norway and Western Europe from a Muslim invasion and that his attacks were "cruel" but "necessary".

Gothenburg Migration Court on Wednesday announced that they plan to review if Anders Hellsborn can continue as a juror after having written his blog post.

"When you do what he has done, in such an tumultuous situation, then the credibility of this court, and to the justice system is shaken, because he is a juror," said Margareta Åberg, head of the administrative court in Gothenburg to Sveriges Radio (SR) on Wednesday.