The attack on three Swedish football fans in Brussels by an extremist who declared himself a follower of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State on Monday night, in which two of them died, has highlighted the fact that Sweden and Its citizens have been in the crosshairs of jihadist groups since the summer. The Belgian police shot dead the jihadist attacker, a Tunisian national, hours after the attack, which in the evening had led to the suspension of the match between the Belgian and Swedish national teams.
On June 28, an Iraqi refugee burned a copy of the Koran, Islam’s most sacred text, in front of the Stockholm mosque. The event, which was repeated on another occasion, was seen as an offense in the Islamic world and put diplomatic relations with the governments of Muslim countries to the limit, where criticism, protests (mainly in Iraq and Pakistan), calls for boycott or threats. The most radical groups called for revenge against the Nordic country and its inhabitants.
Sweden is more threatened than ever, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson warned at a press conference in Stockholm on Tuesday. “Never in recent history have Sweden and Swedish interests been so threatened as today,” said Kristersson, emphasizing that it was “a terrorist attack aimed at Swedes,” as the Belgian Prosecutor’s Office had also said.
Despite the attack that occurred in Brussels, Sweden decided this Tuesday to maintain its alert level for terrorist threat at level four, to which it was raised on a scale of five on August 17, when the intelligence services (Säpo) estimated that Sweden had become a “priority target” after a series of desecrations of the Koran that took place on its territory.
“We must counter threats with more security,” said Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Tuesday. “I understand that many Swedes are afraid and angry. This is the time to have more security, we cannot be naive,” he added. conservative politician, who governs with the external support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, called for more border controls from the European Union.
“The information we have today indicates that the attack is linked to Swedish targets. It is possible that [the man] has ties to Sweden,” said Annelies Verlinden, Belgian Interior Minister. Kristersson reported that the attacker, who was in an irregular situation in Belgium, had visited the Scandinavian country, but was not known to the Swedish security services. However, both the Swedish Prime Minister and Verlinden did not specify whether the attack was related to the burning of Koran books in the streets of Sweden. The suspect was on the radar of the Belgian police.
Similar acts against the Koran occurred in July in Denmark. The Danish and Swedish governments, two of the EU member countries with the highest percentage of Muslim populations, distanced themselves from the burning of the Koran, with harsh criticism of the perpetrators, and said that they could not legally stop them because it would mean limiting freedom of expression. , protected by their respective Constitutions. However, they are studying possibilities to try to stop acts of vilification of the Koran due to the consequences they entail.
