14 Poles held in Sweden for planning migrant asylum attack

[Valin]

Times of Israel/AFP:

Police were acting on tip-off; 3 of those arrested were involved in previous attack

AFP

February 9, 2016

 

Swedish police said Tuesday they had arrested 14 Polish far-right activists for allegedly planning to attack an asylum center, after finding axes, knives and iron pipes in their cars. Authorities said they detained the men on Monday after being tipped off about a planned attack against a migrant center in Nynashamn, some 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Stockholm.

 

“They are Polish citizens and they belong to the far-right sphere,” police spokesman Lars Alvarsjo told state broadcaster Swedish Radio. “We believe that the migrant center was the target of the attack,” another police spokesman, Hesam Akbari, told AFP. Aftonbladet daily reported that some of the suspects were living and working in Sweden.

 

Last month, dozens of masked men believed to belong to hooligan or neo-Nazi gangs gathered in central Stockholm and distributed leaflets calling for attacks on young migrants. Three of the 14 men arrested on Monday evening were involved in last month’s incident, said Alvarsjo.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Meanwhile over in Finland

 

 

 

 

The Odins -- made up mostly of working class men aged around 20 to 40 -- claim the influx has led to a rise in crime.

 

Police disagree, but Ranta is undeterred and insists their presence will prove necessary in a few months when crowds hit the lakeside beaches in summer and "rape attacks will be starting," he told AFP.

 

Finnish media have reported widely on the Odins' links to neo-Nazi movements.

 

Ranta, who was convicted of a 2005 racially-motivated attack against two immigrants, admits readily to being a neo-Nazi -- "Yes, I am" -- but insists his ideology and membership in the Finnish Resistance Movement has nothing to do with the patrols.

 

"Just because I am, as the founder or whatever, it doesn't mean the whole group are (neo-Nazis)... We're just a street patrol group, so why are people making it into something else?," Ranta argued.