Man and woman die in ferry accident

A man and a woman in their mid-70s died after driving off a ferry near Norrtälje, north-east of Stockholm.

The car is said to have driven onto the ferry between Furusund and Yxlan in the Stockholm archipelago late on Sunday afternoon, but didn’t stop to park and instead kept going through to the other side, driving straight through the gate and into the water, according to witnesses.

Ambulance, an ambulance helicopter and boats were dispatched to the scene, including divers. Around an hour after they fell into the water, the pair were found and taken to hospital, where they were confirmed dead. It is not yet known why the car didn’t stop on the ferry.

The car is set to be salvaged on Monday.

Swedish vocabulary: a car – en bil

Green Party elects former culture minister as new co-leader

The Swedish Green Party on Sunday elected Amanda Lind as their new co-leader, as expected.

She will replace Märta Stenevi alongside Daniel Helldén.

Lind served as Sweden’s culture minister between January 2019 until the Green Party left the government in November 2021, and was party secretary between 2016 and 2019.

Earlier this spring, Lind beat the party’s finance spokesperson, Janine Alm Ericson, and the party’s parliamentary group leader, Annika Hirvonen, to win the party’s election committee’s backing.

In a press release announcing its choice, the committee praised Lind’s “ability to communicate a vision and at the same time connect that to current political issues”, adding that her “particular experience in cultural issues” meant that she “fitted extremely well” with the party’s other leader Daniel Helldén who is more focused on issues like carbon emissions, energy, transport, and the green industrial transformation. 

Swedish vocabulary: to be elected – att bli vald

Two teenagers convicted of attacks on sex workers

Two teenagers have been sentenced for attacking people selling sex in Stockholm.

A 16-year-old boy arranged a meeting with a man in December 2023 to buy sex. When he arrived at the apartment, the man told him he was too young and asked him to leave, reports Swedish news agency TT. But the boy instead raped the man at knifepoint, and took the man’s rings and 10,000 kronor in cash, according to the verdict by Södertörn District Court.

The following day he arranged a similar meeting with a woman. He brought an 18-year-old friend to her place and they both bought sex from her. When they were set to leave, they tied her hands and feet and forced her to give them the equivalent of around 30,000 kronor. 

The 18-year-old admitted to the robbery, but the 16-year-old denied the charges. However, his DNA was found at the scene.

The court sentenced the 18-year-old to three years in jail and deportation for robbery and buying sex. The 16-year-old was found guilty of aggravated rape, buying sex, and two counts of robbery, and was sentenced to a year and three months in juvenile detention. If he had been at least 18, he would instead have been sentenced to more than seven years in jail, reports TT.

Police have previously warned that attacks on sex workers are becoming more frequent.

Swedish vocabulary: juvenile detention – sluten ungdomsvård

2,000 people protest against attack on anti-fascism meeting

More than 2,000 people gathered on Saturday for a demonstration outside a theatre in Gubbängen in southern Stockholm, where alleged Nazis last week violently attacked an anti-fascism meeting organised by the Left Party and Green Party and set off smoke bombs.

“It was an act of terror and that is something we can never accept,” TT quoted member of parliament Amanda Lind (then not yet Green Party leader) as saying. 

Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar and Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson also spoke at the demonstration. Dadgostar urged Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who leads Sweden’s right-wing government, to call a meeting with party leaders to address the threat of political violence in the run-up to the EU elections this summer. Kristersson has previously vowed to speak with party leaders.

In the attack on the Gubbängen event last week, the assailants – described as Nazis by anti-extremism magazine Expo – let off smoke grenades and assaulted several people, three of whom were taken to hospital. Police have at the time of writing not arrested any suspects.

Swedish vocabulary: gathered – samlades