Antisemitic slogans as well as angry protests against Arab leaders were heard as around 200 hundred people demonstrated in Malmö on Friday.
The demonstration took place in reaction to US President Donald Trump’s decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognise the latter city as the Israeli capital.
“We take this kind of thing seriously in general. It could be an incitement for people to commit crimes,” police communications officer Calle Persson told TT.
Demonstrators shouted “We want our freedom back and we’re going to shoot the Jews”, among other slogans, according to a report by Sveriges Radio.
Protests in Malmö began spontaneously on both Thursday and Friday evening, according to a number of people who spoke to the radio station.
The protests have taken place without police permission, nor have police received any applications over future demonstrations, according to Region Syd (South) Police.
“Had there been any violence then we would of course have been present,” Persson said to TT.
Freddy Gelberg, a spokesperson for Malmö’s Jewish community, confirmed the police description of the elements of antisemitic sentiment in the city as a reflection of political developments in the Middle East, and added that Jewish people were on their guard through fear of being attacked.
“We are careful. You don’t want to display the Star of David around your neck or other Jewish symbols. An Orthodox Jew does not find life easy in Malmö, he is subjected (to discrimination),” Gellberg said.
Gellberg said that the current climate for Jews living in Malmö was noticeably different in comparison with his youth in the southern Swedish city.
“I was never attacked because of my religion. What is happening now is another type of antisemitism, whereby we are being attacked because of the political situation in the Middle East,” he said.
