Sweden, whose image has deteriorated sharply in the Muslim world after several desecrations of the Koran authorized on its soil, decided on Thursday to raise its level of terrorist alert, estimating that the threat of attacks “will persist for a long time” .
“I decided today to raise the level of the terrorist threat from a high level to a critical level”, that is to say to 4 on a scale of 5, said the head of the Service of the Service of the Swedish security (Säpo), Charlotte von Essen, during a press conference.
For several weeks, political leaders and security services have presented the country as a “priority target” for potential attacks.
“During the year, the threat to Sweden has steadily increased,” added Ms von Essen, stressing that her decision was not linked “to a specific event”.
Swedish intelligence and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson advise people to “go on with life as usual” and to be particularly careful of misinformation and rumours.
“We have ruled out planned terrorist acts,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at a separate press conference, adding that “people had been arrested.”
This is the first time in seven years that Sweden has raised its alert level. The alert level had been raised to 4 for a few months between November 18, 2015 and March 2, 2016.
At the time, the decision was taken, among other things, because the Islamic State group regularly made terrorist threats against the European continent.
The security situation in the usually placid Nordic country is today affected by desecrations of the Koran on its soil, committed by a wide range of people: far-right activists, refugees or artists.
At the end of July, two men had set fire to a copy of the sacred book of Islam in front of the Parliament in Stockholm, reiterating a gesture already carried out a month earlier in front of the largest mosque in the Swedish capital.
These incidents “helped give Sweden the image of a country hostile to Muslims,” said Ahn-Za Hagström, director of the National Center for Terrorist Threat Assessment, at the press conference.
They were followed by heightened tensions in the Muslim world. The Swedish embassy in Baghdad was burnt down before being temporarily repatriated to Stockholm.
The hostility expressed towards Sweden then led the country to intensify its border controls.
Last week, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Swedish embassy in Beirut, without the projectile exploding. And over the weekend, the terrorist group Al-Qaeda called for terrorist attacks in the Scandinavian country.
Several countries have also updated their recommendations for travelers wishing to visit Sweden.
On Sunday, British diplomacy said that terrorist attacks were “very likely” there today.
The United States had also advised travelers on July 26 to exercise “increased caution” in Sweden because of the risk of “terrorism”.
The Swedish authorities are considering ways to limit the organization of demonstrations planning to burn the Koran while respecting freedom of expression. But the parliamentary majority now seems hostile to such a change.
The image of Sweden as hostile to Muslims is not new: at the beginning of 2022, the Swedish authorities, accused of systematized “kidnapping” of Muslim children from their families, had denounced a vast campaign of disinformation online.
According to these allegations, which quickly became viral, the Nordic country would kidnap Muslim children to entrust them to Christian families, in which they would be forced to drink alcohol and eat pork.
Asked by AFP in February 2022 about this, the Minister of Immigration denied, pointing to “malicious forces that want to exploit frustration (…) and sow distrust and division in Swedish society” .
These same “forces” were mentioned on Thursday.
“We know that extremist groups and foreign powers willingly use this type of situation in which Sweden finds itself today,” noted Susanna Trehörning, deputy head in charge of counter-terrorism at Säpo.
17/08/2023 19:27:49 – Stockholm (AFP) © 2023 AFP
