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Swedes arrest four on terror charges
Source: Agencies |
September 12, 2011, Monday
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SWEDISH police arrested four people on suspicion of preparing a terror attack and evacuated an arts center in Sweden's second-largest city on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary, officials said yesterday.
The four were arrested in the west coast city of Goteborg, said Sara Kvarnstrom, spokeswoman for the Swedish security police, SAPO. She declined to give details on the arrests and wouldn't say whether they were linked to the 10-year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Kvarnstrom said SAPO saw no reason to raise its terror alert level, which has been at "elevated" since October.
Police in Goteborg said they had evacuated the Roda Sten arts center, located beneath the city's landmark 933-meter Alvsborg bridge.
Roda Sten is a former heating plant that was reopened as an arts center in 2000, according to its website. About 400 people were celebrating the opening of an international biennial for contemporary art at the graffiti-covered brick building when police ordered everyone to leave, said Mia Christersdotter Norman, the head of Roda Sten.
"Around midnight I was called out by the police and they said there was a threat to the building and asked us to quietly stop the party, which we did and everyone left," said Christersdotter Norman.
"Police have searched the building but they didn't find anything," she said, adding the arts center would reopen as usual today.
She said she had no information about the arrests, and had not been aware of any threats against the arts festival or its participants before the police operation.
Klas Eriksson, a disc jockey, was just about to start at Roda Sten when police broke up the party. People were worried but there was no panic, he said.
"It was just after midnight. Police said that they had arrested four people and that the building had to be evacuated," Eriksson told AP.
"I thought it was scary," he said. "Your thoughts go to 9/11, because it was just after midnight. But you don't know. It could be anything."
Scandinavia has been focused mainly on Islamic terrorism since September 11, but in the wake of Norway's terrorist attack by a right-wing anti-immigrant Norwegian, the European police agency has been investigating non-Islamist threats in Scandinavia.
The four were arrested in the west coast city of Goteborg, said Sara Kvarnstrom, spokeswoman for the Swedish security police, SAPO. She declined to give details on the arrests and wouldn't say whether they were linked to the 10-year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Kvarnstrom said SAPO saw no reason to raise its terror alert level, which has been at "elevated" since October.
Police in Goteborg said they had evacuated the Roda Sten arts center, located beneath the city's landmark 933-meter Alvsborg bridge.
Roda Sten is a former heating plant that was reopened as an arts center in 2000, according to its website. About 400 people were celebrating the opening of an international biennial for contemporary art at the graffiti-covered brick building when police ordered everyone to leave, said Mia Christersdotter Norman, the head of Roda Sten.
"Around midnight I was called out by the police and they said there was a threat to the building and asked us to quietly stop the party, which we did and everyone left," said Christersdotter Norman.
"Police have searched the building but they didn't find anything," she said, adding the arts center would reopen as usual today.
She said she had no information about the arrests, and had not been aware of any threats against the arts festival or its participants before the police operation.
Klas Eriksson, a disc jockey, was just about to start at Roda Sten when police broke up the party. People were worried but there was no panic, he said.
"It was just after midnight. Police said that they had arrested four people and that the building had to be evacuated," Eriksson told AP.
"I thought it was scary," he said. "Your thoughts go to 9/11, because it was just after midnight. But you don't know. It could be anything."
Scandinavia has been focused mainly on Islamic terrorism since September 11, but in the wake of Norway's terrorist attack by a right-wing anti-immigrant Norwegian, the European police agency has been investigating non-Islamist threats in Scandinavia.
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