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Sweden strikes new anti-terror deal after Stockholm attack

TT/The Local
TT/The Local - [email protected]
Sweden strikes new anti-terror deal after Stockholm attack
The truck that was driven down Drottninggatan in central Stockholm later crashed into the Åhléns department store. Photo: Tomas Oneborg/SvD/TT

As a result of cross-party talks following the truck attack in Stockholm on April 7th, Sweden's government and opposition parties presented an agreement on anti-terror measures on Wednesday.

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The cross-party talks were launched shortly after the truck attack in central Stockholm on April 7th, which killed five people and injured several others.
 
"We are intensifying the preventive work against terrorism, we are strengthening the Security Service's and the police's opportunities to get access to signals intelligence and the opportunities for CCTV monitoring, and we are strengthening our capacity to handle terror threats," Home Affairs Minister Anders Ygeman said.
 
Anti-terror agreement
Annika Hirvonen Falk (Green Party), Home Affairs Minister Anders Ygeman (Social Democrats), Beatrice Ask (Moderate Party), Johan Hedin (Centre Party), Roger Haddad (Liberals) and Andreas Carlson (Christian Democrats) presenting the cross-party agreement against terrorism on Wednesday. Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT 
 
 
The agreement presented on Wednesday is several pages long and contains several points, most of which were already on the table when the talks between the centre-left government and the four centre-right opposition Alliance parties. The Left Party and the Sweden Democrats had not been invited to the talks.
 
Some of the points presented:
  • A government investigation will be launched into easing the exchange of information between the police and other authorities, for instance local-council social services, regarding people deemed to pose security threats
  • The Swedish Contingencies Agency (Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap, MSB) has been tasked with reviewing protection for pedestrians and others in the public sphere, in busy places like streets and squares. Bollards were mentioned as a measure to prevent truck attacks like the one in Stockholm's pedestrian Drottinggatan street.
  • Under current rules, the Security Service (Säpo) is not allowed to receive information from signals intelligence stemming from police investigations. An investigation is to be launched into allowing Säpo to do so in the future.
The six parties also agreed that an inquiry should be launched into the course of events during the attack in Stockholm on April 7th, and to draw conclusions on what should be learned from the attack for the future.
 

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