A total of 36 people have been charged by Swedish prosecutors in connection with a Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstration last year in Gothenburg that escalated into a riot.
The group of 36 people are charged with a number of crimes connected to the violence that took place on June 7th of last year, including violent rioting, sabotage of emergency services operations, vandalism, violence against a public official, and charges of assault.
The incidents of violence took place after the BLM demonstration when the organiser ended the event after speaking with the police. Prosecutors say that the situation then descended into a full-blown riot, broadcaster SVT reports.
“The violence has mainly consisted of participants in the crowd kicking, beating, and throwing stones and other objects at the police and their vehicles,” prosecutor Elisabeth Trouvé stated in a press release on Thursday.
Investigators say they have at least 145 hours worth of footage from public CCTV cameras as well as police body camera footage, videos posted on social media, and footage from shops in the area. The trial for the 36 people involved is scheduled to start in November.
In the days after the riot, Gothenburg police chief Erik Nord admitted that he did not foresee the amount of violence that would take place on the day which saw at least 15 to 20 cars set on fire.
“These are quarrelsome people who just wanted riots and that is the most difficult thing a police organisation can face. It took quite a few hours before we had it under control,” Nord stated.
The Gothenburg riot was not the only BLM protest last summer in Sweden. In the multicultural city of Malmo, for example, BLM protestors demanded the abolition of the police.
“Although the history of the Swedish police does not have the same relation to slavery as the United States, it is the same structures that have emerged: institutionalised racism, where it is clear who is most persecuted, stopped and controlled, abused, locked up and even murdered,” the leaflet alleged.
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