Street corners in Brussels are filled with flowers, greetings and candles. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson takes off his blue-yellow Sweden scarf and places it on the ground.
– One of the many things we must do is return to a situation where all Swedes can walk around Sweden and the world and be proud to be Swedes, he says.
Just hours earlier, the mood on the street was upbeat. Sweden was to play an EC qualifying match against Belgium. Instead, two Swedish supporters were shot dead by a terrorist on their way to the match.
– He was wearing some kind of orange reflective vest and a white helmet – and was armed with automatic weapons. He followed them and started shooting at this taxi, says Kenan Habul, reporter at Sydsvenskan who was on the scene in Brussels shortly after the crime.
It seems like the perpetrator was out to kill and injure Swedes.
– It was the Swedish football jerseys that got him going. Then he knew they were Swedes, says Kenan Habul.
The Koran burnings of recent years and the extensive disinformation campaign against the Swedish social services have been seen as possible motives behind the terrorist attack.
– It is a theory that was put forward by the Belgian authorities quite early on, says Kenan Habul.
He has reported extensively on both the Koran burnings and the campaign against social services in recent years.
– There have been so many terrorist acts and the atmosphere has been so fierce for so many years. I had hoped it wouldn’t happen, but I can’t say I was really surprised, he says.
How have disinformation campaigns made Swedes targets for terror? And what are the consequences of the act in Brussels? Listen to the latest episode of “You listen to Sydsvenskan”.
2023-10-25 04:30:00
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