Monday 5th July

Church of Sweden Bishop Lennart Koskinen was forcibly removed by Sweden Democrat (SD) security staff when the nationalist party held a meeting just metres from the church tent at Almedalen week on Gotland on Monday.

Koskinen was angered at the demonstration, which had been given police authorization, in front of the Church of Sweden's own tent at the annual political week on the Baltic Sea island.

"The Sweden Democrats, which represent an entirely different message from the Church of Sweden stand two metres in front of our tent so that we do not have the possibility to deliver our message. They have giant speakers so that the public might believe that it is we who stand for this xenophobic message, when in fact the opposite is true," Koskinen told news agency TT immediately after the incident.

Koskinen felt compelled to act just as SD party secretary Björn Söder had opened a debate with the Christian Democrat Rolf Tufvesson concerning culture and integration. Koskinen approached Söder, at which point several Sweden Democrats muscled the 69-year-old pastor away.

Security service police were swiftly on the scene and informed Koskinen that the party had in fact been granted permission to hold its meeting at the location. The bishop expressed surprise at the news.

 

 back