Sweden Democrat in bar brawl in Iceland
William Hahne, the press secretary of the Sweden Democrats (SD) youth league, caused embarrassment for the Swedish delegation to the Nordic Council meeting in Reykjavik this week after getting drunk and racially abusing a bartender.
"He was drunk and threw his credit card at our bartender. When he refused to serve him he banged his hand on the bar and screamed 'fucking foreigner'," said Skjöldur Sigurjónsson, a co-owner of the hip Reykjavik nightspot, Ölstofa Kormáks Og Skjaldar, to The Local on Friday.
Sigurjónsson explained that the bartender, who is of Palestinian origin, had lived for a time in Sweden and thus understood what Hahne screamed at him and refused to serve him anything more to drink.
"Then he (Hahne) picked up a glass from the bar and went to throw the contents at the bartender and the glass fell from his hand and hit (the bartender), crashing to the floor. We then decided to eject him from the bar, at which point he screamed more abuse."
Hahne was in Iceland's capital together with a large Swedish delegation which included several senior MPs, ministers and ex-ministers.
The 18-year-old Hahne was in the "Östofa" bar, known to locals as a favourite haunt of the city's cultural and intellectual elite, drinking with other SD party members and his drunken antics were witnessed by a number of other Swedish and Nordic delegates.
The resultant controversy gave cause for the Nordic Council to hold a crisis meeting on Thursday, summoning Nordic Youth Council president Minna Lindberg and William Hahne.
Lindberg has since sent a letter to the bartender to apologise on behalf of the unruly Sweden Democrat delegate. In the letter, published by the Aftonbladet daily, Lindberg wrote:
"Even if all delegates in the Nordic Youth Council are responsible for their own actions we would also like to use this letter to forward our apologies."
Lindberg also expressed a hope that the incident had not damaged relations between the Nordic Youth Council and the main Nordic Council.
Hahne has on Friday confirmed to several media sources that he was the person involved in the incident, citing his young age as a contributing factor, although not an excuse, for his actions.
Comments
See Also
"He was drunk and threw his credit card at our bartender. When he refused to serve him he banged his hand on the bar and screamed 'fucking foreigner'," said Skjöldur Sigurjónsson, a co-owner of the hip Reykjavik nightspot, Ölstofa Kormáks Og Skjaldar, to The Local on Friday.
Sigurjónsson explained that the bartender, who is of Palestinian origin, had lived for a time in Sweden and thus understood what Hahne screamed at him and refused to serve him anything more to drink.
"Then he (Hahne) picked up a glass from the bar and went to throw the contents at the bartender and the glass fell from his hand and hit (the bartender), crashing to the floor. We then decided to eject him from the bar, at which point he screamed more abuse."
Hahne was in Iceland's capital together with a large Swedish delegation which included several senior MPs, ministers and ex-ministers.
The 18-year-old Hahne was in the "Östofa" bar, known to locals as a favourite haunt of the city's cultural and intellectual elite, drinking with other SD party members and his drunken antics were witnessed by a number of other Swedish and Nordic delegates.
The resultant controversy gave cause for the Nordic Council to hold a crisis meeting on Thursday, summoning Nordic Youth Council president Minna Lindberg and William Hahne.
Lindberg has since sent a letter to the bartender to apologise on behalf of the unruly Sweden Democrat delegate. In the letter, published by the Aftonbladet daily, Lindberg wrote:
"Even if all delegates in the Nordic Youth Council are responsible for their own actions we would also like to use this letter to forward our apologies."
Lindberg also expressed a hope that the incident had not damaged relations between the Nordic Youth Council and the main Nordic Council.
Hahne has on Friday confirmed to several media sources that he was the person involved in the incident, citing his young age as a contributing factor, although not an excuse, for his actions.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.