Over the weekend, a politician on the Sweden Democrats’ list of Riksdag candidates was followed to his home, harassed, and threatened with violence by two migrants who took issue with his political viewpoints, video footage posted to social media has revealed.
Rasmus Giertz, the 28-year-old chairman of the Sweden Democrats in Dalarna County, was en route to his home in Falun on Saturday afternoon after attending a political gathering in the neighboring city of Borlänge when he was accosted by two men, both of whom were previously unknown to him, the Swedish state-run media outlet Sveriges Radio reports.
At some point during the altercation, Rasmus, who had been wearing a Sweden Democrats jacket and hat, removed the mobile phone from his pocket and began recording video footage of the men shouting obscenities and hurling threats at him—a video which he later uploaded to Facebook.
In the recording, the two men can be seen pursuing Giertz for a few hundred meters as he walks from his vehicle toward his apartment building. One of the men can be heard shouting at Giertz, telling him that ten other guys are on their way to the scene to “take care of him.”
Upon reaching the inside of his home—and with the pair of men loitering outside his building’s gate, continuing to shout threats at him—Giertz decided to call the police and inform them of the situation. When police arrived at the scene, however, the men were nowhere to be seen.
In comments given to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, Giertz had this to say about the experience:
They know where I live, which makes me feel very insecure. I haven’t slept in my home since it happened. I suspect they may live nearby and it makes me feel very unsafe if they are around the corner when I get home. I personally think it is very serious. It is an attack on our entire democratic system. This can lead to people not daring to continue their political involvement.
Continuing, Giertz said:
This really puts the finger on what is so wrong in Sweden today. This is not a single isolated incident but a consequence of the immigration policy we have had in Sweden. Similar events will become increasingly common if we do not bring about a change after the election on September 11.
The incident comes just days before Swedes head to the ballot boxes to elect a new government, and as the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats are poised to garner between 18-20% of the national vote.
