In Sweden this week, gangs of masked young people used Molotov cocktails to set fire to about 100 cars in the city of Gothenburg and several other cities and towns. Sweden’s prime minister described the attacks as “very organized, almost like a military operation.” Sweden holds elections on September 9, and the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats, a party with neo-Nazi roots, is expected to do well. The big questions: If this was some sort of pre-election protest, who were these people? What were they protesting? Will these arson attacks influence the election outcome? These questions are on the minds of politics watchers across Europe as a far-right party builds momentum ahead of a crucial vote in the country that has welcomed more migrants per capita in recent years than any other in Europe.
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Pre-election Violence in Sweden
By Willis SparksAugust 17, 2018
Willis Sparks
Willis Sparks is a senior editor for GZERO Daily. He is also a Director in the Global Macro practice at Eurasia Group, where he has worked since 2005. He has made speeches on international politics on every continent except Antarctica. Willis holds degrees from Brown University, the Juilliard School, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He also holds an honorary degree from the Moscow Art Theatre School. A native of Macon, Georgia, Willis has worked as a stuntman at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As a child, he declined an opportunity to spend an afternoon riding the Great American Scream Machine, a rollercoaster, with Ronald McDonald, for money. He has never regretted that decision.
