Brussels shooting: 'This is a terrorist attack aimed at Sweden and Swedish citizens'
Swedish politicians are considering a ban on the desecration of the Koran, invoked by the man who killed two supporters of Sweden's football team in Brussels on Monday. According to the Swedish Immigration Agency, he stayed in the country from 2012- 2014. Two supporters of the Swedish team, who were playing Belgium in Brussels on Monday, October 16, were shot to death in an attack by Abdesalem Lassoued, who was fatally wounded when he was arrested on Tuesday morning. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson revealed that the suspected terrorist, a 45-year-old undocumented Tunisian, had "stayed temporarily" in Sweden. He also referred to the desecration of the Koran in Sweden, and a gigantic disinformation campaign on social media, accusing Swedish social services of taking Muslim children away from their parents. In response to the terrorist threat, Sweden raised its terrorist alert level from three to four on a scale of five. Kristerson called for the deportation of the "27,000" foreigners subject to an order to leave the country, better control of the European Union's external borders and the strengthening of the powers of the police and intelligence services.
Publicados : 2 anos atrás por Anne-Françoise Hivert no World General
The football world was plunged into mourning. Two supporters of the Swedish team, who were playing Belgium in Brussels on Monday, October 16, were shot to death in an attack by Abdesalem Lassoued, who was fatally wounded when he was arrested on Tuesday morning. They were aged between 60 and 70. One lived in Switzerland, the other in the Stockholm area. A third man in his sixties, also Swedish, was injured.
"All indications are that this is a terrorist attack aimed at Sweden and Swedish citizens," said Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at a press conference in Stockholm at lunchtime on Tuesday. According to the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office, which favors the "lone wolf" theory, the attacker's motives were linked to the desecration of the Koran in Sweden, but could also be connected to the situation in Gaza.
Kristersson revealed that the suspected terrorist, a 45-year-old undocumented Tunisian, had "stayed temporarily" in Sweden. This information was confirmed to Le Monde by the Swedish Immigration Agency: Long before he applied for asylum in Belgium in 2019 – his application was rejected in 2020 – Lassoued spent two years in Sweden between 2012 and 2014, under a different identity. During this time, he served a prison sentence. Neither the reason nor the length of his sentence was known at present. According to the Immigration Agency, he was deported in 2014 "to another European country."
On August 17, Stockholm raised its terrorist alert level from three to four on a scale of five. "We now know with chilling clarity that there was cause for concern," Kristersson commented on Tuesday. He referred to the burning of the Koran, which has earned Sweden threats from several Islamist organizations, and also to a gigantic disinformation campaign on social media, launched in early 2022, accusing Swedish social services of taking Muslim children away from their parents.
In the face of the terrorist threat, Kristersson called for "the defense of an open and free society." But he insisted above all on the need to ensure "the security" of the country and its inhabitants. "We must know who is in Sweden, and make sure [they] are in Sweden legally," he insisted, demanding the deportation of the "27,000" foreigners subject to an order to leave the country, better control of the European Union's external borders and the strengthening of the powers of the police and intelligence services "to find [those] likely to represent a threat to security in Sweden."
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Tópicos: Crime, Sweden, Terrorism