Sweden's Minister for Civil Defense, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, was pursued by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, leading to a police investigation for harassment. The incident, condemned by political leaders, has sparked a debate on the boundaries of protest and democracy.
Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin Faces Intense Protest: Accusations of a 'Hateful Stare'
Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin Faces Intense Protest: Accusations of a 'Hateful Stare'
Carl-Oskar Bohlin was followed by a dozen demonstrators on Monday evening. The organization 'Together4palestinee' now defends the actions.
Police are investigating harassment after the Minister for Civil Defense, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, was pursued by pro-Palestinian demonstrators as he was heading home from parliament.
Bohlin described feeling threatened, and in a video from the incident, activists can be heard shouting "shame on you" at him.
The actions have been condemned by prominent representatives from all parliamentary parties.
The organization Together4palestinee has chosen to comment on the incident. They share Bohlin's and Kristersson's comments regarding the pursuit but do not mention the incident further.
Referring to Another Situation
Instead, they describe a situation that occurred earlier in the day when Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Carl-Oskar Bohlin "walked through" a group of people protesting at Mynttorget.
Government representatives were on their way into one of the parliament buildings, and in a video shared by, among others, Together4palestinee, Carl-Oskar Bohlin is seen stopping and looking the demonstrators in the eyes.
The group describes this as a provocation from the government's side.
"Yesterday, Ulf Kristersson and Carl-Oskar Bohlin chose to walk straight through a peaceful demonstration against the genocide in Gaza," they write.
In an Instagram post, they further write that Carl-Oskar Bohlin stood in front of the demonstrators and looked at them with a "hateful stare."
"This is nothing but an attempt to demonize and suspect peaceful demonstrators," they write.
"They call us a lynch mob, we call it the people's democracy."
Carl-Oskar Bohlin stated on Tuesday morning that he felt threatened when he was pursued by the demonstrators later in the evening.
"It is unacceptable that we have a situation where it almost appears as a lynch mob following elected officials so that they cannot reach their homes, which I believe fundamentally creates an environment for Swedish democracy that is harmful," he said on P1 morning.