Posted on 09/12/2003 6:55:51 AM PDT by Charles Henrickson
STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Thousands of mourners were due to pay homage to slain foreign minister Anna Lindh as police broadened their hunt for a man who shocked Sweden by stabbing to death one of its most popular figures.
Meanwhile, contrasting opinion polls on Friday kept Swedes guessing as to whether the slaying of Lindh, who was an ardent supporter of adopting the euro, may sway the outcome of a key currency referendum Sunday that carries wide-ranging repercussions for Europe.
Led by Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson, the demonstration on Sergels Torg square has been called "A Protest Against Violence and For Democracy", with a similar gathering also scheduled in Sweden's second city of Gothenburg.
The second day of mourning over Lindh's death followed a night on which throngs of stunned Stockholmers held candle-light vigils and lay beds of roses at spontaneous memorial sites that sprung up in the city.
The 46-year-old mother of two succumbed to massive internal bleeding caused by a damaged liver on Thursday morning.
Television news coverage was consumed with interviews of ordinary citizens who often looked too shattered by Lindh's fatal stabbing at an upmarket department store Wednesday to string together more than a few words.
"Sweden has lost one of its most important representatives, our face to the world," Persson said in a televised broadcast to the Swedish nation Thursday evening.
"The country is in shock and plunged into sadness," Persson said.
But he added that a hotly contested referendum on whether to adopt the euro as the country's currency would go ahead Sunday as planned.
A poll released Friday by the Skop research institute and conducted after Lindh's death showed that although most Swedes had opposed the euro before, the "yes" and "no" camps were now running neck-and-neck.
Some economists suggested this was an emotional breaking point linked to Lindh's slaying and that "yes" would prevail Sunday.
But a second opinion poll published Friday conducted by Sifo for the TT news agency showed the "no" vote has kept its lead since Lindh's death.
"The truth is probably somewhere in-between the two," said Steve Barrow, an economist following the Swedish euro campaign for Bear Stearns investment bank in London.
"But 'in-between', in this case, still means 'No'," he said.
And the "no" camp showed few signs of letting up their cause as colorful orange and blue posters popped up across Stockholm urging people to "vote for democracy and against the euro."
One anti-euro poster showed a caricature of the Swedish queen panhandling for money while wearing a sign reading simply: "Unemployed."
Yet the nation appeared Friday still too stunned by Lindh's murder to focus on the euro vote.
A hunt for the attacker has so far borne no fruit. Police announced Friday they had released a 32-year-old man -- initially seen as the prime suspect -- after questioning him in connection with the attack and now were broadening their desperate search to include homeless shelters.
And with emotions running high, officials were unable Friday to say when Lindh may be laid to rest.
Burial ceremonies customarily take up to a week to perform in Sweden and some speculated that with invitations for foreign dignitaries still to come, it may be a while before Lindh is laid to rest.
Lindh was a heavyweight on Sweden's political scene who had been tipped to succeed Persson as prime minister.
A member of Sweden's ruling Social Democratic party, Lindh became foreign minister in 1998. She was voted the fourth-most admired woman in Sweden in a recent survey.
Obviously, I would disagree with Lindh's politics, but I certainly share the sadness over her murder/assassination.
I'll post a couple of other related stories here on this thread also, rather than create a new thread for each one. This way we can keep today's discussion on the subject on one thread.
Sweden needs to arm its good people and let them take care of themselves. If Lindh had been a CCW holder and been carrying, her assailanit would never have chased her up the escalator...he would have died there instead of her.
Just my thoughts, and I realize they probably will not do such a thing...but it is clearly what they, and any free people need to do.
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was sent an e-mail threatening her and her children two weeks before she was fatally stabbed while out shopping, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
The e-mail accused Lindh -- who campaigned hard for Swedes to vote "Yes" to joining the euro in a referendum on Sunday -- of being a "power-hungry bitch sitting in the lap of big business," public service SR radio said quoting from the letter.
The e-mail, which was not passed on to police, was sent to Lindh on August 27, the day after an article written by her and Carl-Henric Svanberg, chief executive of flagship telecoms company Ericsson (news - web sites), was published in a leading daily newspaper.
Lindh, a member of the working-class-rooted center-left Social Democratic Party, and Svanberg, one of Sweden's richest men, argued that a rejection of the European Union (news - web sites)'s common currency would hit jobs and investment in the Swedish economy.
Lindh, a 46-year-old mother-of-two, was fatally stabbed by an unknown male attacker on Wednesday when she was out shopping with a friend. She died of her wounds on Thursday.
Like most Swedish politicians, apart from the prime minister, she had no bodyguards.
Many Swedes fear her murder will go unsolved like that of Prime Minister Olof Palme who was shot dead in central Stockholm in 1986 while walking home from a cinema. Palme had given his bodyguards a night off.
Top Foreign Ministry official, Mikael Eriksson, told the radio the letter was not passed on to the police unit responsible for ministers' security, Sapo. He did not specify what threats were contained in the e-mail.
"In a situation when the foreign minister is dead, you obviously look at all measures and routines that could have been handled differently," he said. "But in this particular case I don't want to say whether this should have been handed over (to Sapo)."
Sapo deputy chief Kurt Malmstrom said the threat analysis team responsible for assessing potential threats against cabinet members should have seen the letter.
Eriksson said Lindh had not seen the e-mail because she had explicitly said she did not want to see any such letters.
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The murder of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh may have raised the prospect of a sympathy vote on Sunday for her campaign to swap the crown for the euro but markets were still betting on a "no" on Friday.
One poll taken after Lindh died of stab wounds on Thursday showed the "Yes" side neck-and-neck with the "Nos." But the Swedish crown fell from three-month highs when investors placed more trust in a second survey showing an extended "No" lead.
Flowers piled outside the department store where she was stabbed on Wednesday in a case that revived bitter memories of the unsolved 1986 assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme. Thousands were expected at vigils later in the day.
Police have arrested no suspects, though one man was questioned on Thursday before being released. Prosecutor Agenta Bildberg, who is now leading the Palme investigation, was assigned the Lindh case.
The foreign ministry said that Lindh, 46, was sent an e-mail on August 27 threatening her and her family and denouncing her for teaming up with big business in favor of the European Union's single currency.
Two days before the euro vote, a survey by the Skop institute showed those in favor of Sweden becoming the 13th member of the euro zone had leapt to match opponents at 50-50 percent. The sample was 792 voters.
But a survey by Sifo also taken after Lindh died indicated that the "No" side, keeping Sweden inside the EU but outside the euro like Britain and Denmark, had widened its lead to 50-38 percent from 49-39. The sample was just over 1,000.
Markets doubted the Skop poll, which shifted from previous format by omitting undecideds. "Investors have already priced in a 'No' with, say, 90 percent certainty," Handelsbanken equity strategist Mattias Isakson said.
KILLER IDENTITY KEY?
Others were less sure and said the identity of the killer could be a key.
"There is great potential for a sympathy vote that will turn this one," said politics professor Bo Bjurulf at Lund University. "Obviously if it's politically motivated the sympathy vote would be stronger."
Ordinary Swedes and politicians the world over expressed horror at the murder of Lindh, a mother of two and fervent human rights campaigner tipped as a future prime minister.
The "Yes" side has trailed in polls since April despite its high-profile campaign backed by mainstream politicians and big business. The "No" side has tapped into a deep vein of mistrust of the EU, especially among women, the left and those dependent on Sweden's cradle-to-grave welfare system.
"I voted 'No' at the Post Office but when I heard about Anna Lindh I almost felt guilty," said 26-year-old Maria Bodo, who like many Swedes has already cast an early ballot.
Politicians suspended campaigning and "Yes" and "No" posters were being taken down. Muslims in Sweden devoted Friday prayers to Lindh, the first time a non-Muslim was so honored in Sweden.
Police said they had briefly detained a 32-year-old drug addict in connection with the crime. "Right now we do not have any suspects," police spokesman Lars Gronskog said.
"We think it (the probe) is moving ahead, not least because we can rule out a few possible suspects," he said.
Police searched hostels and other lodgings in Stockholm and were seeking fingerprints or DNA genetic fragments on the knife and clothes abandoned by the killer and on a handrail on the escalator in the department store, down which he fled.
Cooperation strengthens our Sweden.
If we choose the outsider-status,
we will end up being left behind.
On Sunday I am voting "Yes" on the euro!
Yes!
STOCKHOLM (AFP) - More than just a gifted politician, Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, who died, was seen by Swedes first and foremost as a unique human being who inspired all those struggling to balance the demands of the modern world.
Candle-light vigils and makeshift shrines have sprung up across the country since news came in that the woman who was tipped to one day become their prime minister -- and who had graced their world with determination, warmth and an ever-present smile -- had been fatally stabbed while shopping in central Stockholm.
Tens of thousands of people were expected to attend anti-violence rallies held in her honour on Friday, as an outpouring of numbed grief swept Sweden.
Lindh, a 46-year-old mother of two young boys, has after her death on Thursday been hailed around the globe as one of the world's most talented diplomats and also one of the most liked.
It is the loss of her kindness, sincerity, thoughtfulness, conviction and candor that will make the grief felt by Swedes so terrible to bear.
"I knew Anna for 30 years," said fellow cabinet member Mona Sahlin, the minister in charge of democracy, fighting to keep her voice from breaking.
"She always found the time during her hectic schedule to call and wish me happy birthday or when I was going through a hard time," Sahlin told reporters, no longer able to hold back the tears.
Known for making her colleagues in and outside Sweden smile with text messages on their mobile phones, Lindh was not afraid to drop even the most urgent of matters for her family.
She recently interrupted talks in London with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to take a call from her son who had locked himself out of the house, returning to Straw only once she was sure the boy was okay.
In her world of sober international affairs and dark suits, the petite and blonde Lindh stood out with her cheerful and spunky demeanour and colourful attire.
When she visited US Secretary of State Colin Powell, she always made sure she had a small gift to take him from Sweden, remembering his passion for Volvo cars and the 1970s disco group Abba.
Powell once said that the three best things about Sweden were "Volvo, Abba and Anna".
Her smile was so infectious, her effervescence so powerful and her conviction so fierce that she was a natural choice to adorn the tens of thousands of campaign posters plastered across Sweden ahead of this weekend's referendum on the euro, in which she was a figurehead for the "yes" camp.
As foreign minister, she represented her country abroad with political ideals that were also her own personal goals, defending democracy, human rights and equality -- values Swedes cherish and in which they take immense pride.
While a foreign minister may not always have a lot to say in domestic politics, Lindh's dedication to upholding those so-Swedish ideals abroad made Swedes deeply proud to have her as their spokeswoman to the rest of the world.
Lindh's success in combining a high-powered career with being a mother and a wife also served as an inspiration to many Swedish women.
"She was a role model. I could identify more with her than all the old geezers. She was able to take care of her family and stand up for what she believed in," said Jenny Raadmark, a young woman attending a vigil.
And perhaps most poignant are the words of the next generation, who have been robbed of the woman described as the "guiding light for Sweden's future".
A note written by a child and attached to a cuddly toy laid down at one vigil reads: "Her heart was deeper than the deepest lake in Sweden... I just think she was an angel."
IF this was written by the killer, it sounds like he's probably one of the anti-WTO type anarchists.
Interesting that the Left votes 'no.' You'd think it'd be the other way around, with social conservatives rejecting the socialist hegemony of the EU rather than the Left.
Guess the Swedish Left likes its own brand of socialism better than it does the EU's.
See further this excellent piece from todays Daily Telegraph.
The Swedes must carry on as before – just like New Yorkers By George Trefgarne (Filed: 12/09/2003)
Stockholm
It might seem an obvious thing to say, but European politics now has a Diana figure. Anna Lindh was the very model of the modern Swedish woman: independent and attractive, she was part maternal, part street-wise blonde, with a dash of charming naivety mixed in.
Both in looks and substance, she was an archetype not only for Swedish women, but also for Swedish men too, who, more often than not, want wives just like her. [A "politician" from the age of 12 onwards!! Wouldn't have touched her with the proverbial barge pole. ScaniaBoy]
She died in the final days of the euro referendum and was the public face of the "Yes'' campaign, so it is tempting to say Miss Lindh is the first euro martyr.
But that isn't true. When I was in Sweden at the time of the attack, nobody was mentioning much to do with Sunday's vote. All parties agreed that it should still go ahead, but then said no more about it.
Maybe they were behaving just like the Scots. A couple of weeks before their devolution referendum, Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed, yet it had no effect on the result and there was no Unionist upsurge, as some had predicted. If the Scottish parallel is correct, the Swedish will vote "No'', as opinion polls forecast earlier this week.
[I pray my countrymen are as hard headed and unsentimental as the dour Scots. One poll taken on Thursday evening showed a chnge from 58 - 42 for a NO slip to 50 - 50. However, a more reputable polling institute showed no change with a lead for the NO side with 50 - 38 with 10% undecided and 2% abstaining.]
Miss Lindh's demise is none the less pregnant with symbolism, and not only because the crowds are gathering outside the Rikstag - the parliament building - waving red flags draped in black scarves. Put it in context for a moment and consider what was going on elsewhere.
She died on the morning of September 11, when, around the world, Americans were commemorating their dead. In New York, former mayor Rudolph Giuliani had just made a pilgrimage to the site of the World Trade Centre and said America had become "spiritually stronger" since the attacks.
Even as Mr Giuliani spoke, on Wednesday evening, Miss Lindh was out shopping and exuding, right down to her smart designer glasses, as much about Swedish society as Mr Giuliani does about America.
The Swedes are an essentially discreet and polite people. If you had to ask them what they are most proud of, they would say private and domestic things. They rank safety above all else, which is one reason they have been reluctant to embrace the euro, which they see as a risky venture supported by politicians and big business.
Where a New Yorker such as Mr Giuliani might point to the Manhattan skyline and talk about the American dream, a Swede would say their welfare state has liberated women so they can lead more independent lives, just like Miss Lindh. There is universal childcare, mostly subsidised by the state, so Miss Lindh (she never took the name of her husband, Bo Halmberg, a former politician) was able to leave her children at home, as she climbed her way up the Social Democratic hierarchy.
For instance, a couple can take a year off between them for every child they have, so a husband can easily stay at home while the woman goes out to work. During that time, whoever is on leave will receive 80 per cent of their salary and have their job kept open.
Miss Lindh was only 46, and most people expected her to take over from Goran Persson as the next prime minister, yet it was just these welfare arrangements that helped her rise to the top so fast. As you would expect, she was commendably outspoken on human rights abuses, especially in China and Russia. And she was also mildly anti-American, but stopped short of the hostility to be found in Paris or Berlin.
The American taxpayer spends his money on manly things, such as the military and "zero-tolerance'' policing, rather than the welfare state. But Miss Lindh had no security. She was too feminine, or too feminist, for that. Not only was she without detectives, but those in the store failed to apprehend her attacker and he made off, covered in blood. Perhaps they didn't want to interfere, or were too frightened to do anything.
Sweden is an admirably open society which doesn't have much time for hierarchy or macho behaviour in general. They bow to Carl Gustav XVI - who vacated his palace in central Stockholm for one in the suburbs more than a decade ago - more out of good manners than deference.
So politicians make a point of going about their business just like anyone else. Miss Lindh was to be seen regularly on public transport, reading her official papers, or sitting in a coffee shop, chatting with friends. There is even a huge thoroughfare between the two wings of the Rikstag, where anybody can stroll through and bump into government ministers. It is as if you are allowed to enter one of the House of Commons lobbies and collar Geoff Hoon.
Yesterday, the Swedish press was working itself up into a great lather about the security around public figures. It awakened memories of the assassination of Olof Palme, the prime minister, 17 years ago. He also had no security with him and was shot coming out of a cinema. The finger of blame was being pointed at the police, who apparently regarded Miss Lindh as low-risk.
Diana came to be seen as a victim of certain modern things, such as a media gone mad and over-the-top public emotion (yesterday, thousands of people around the world were apparently upset about Miss Lindh's death despite, presumably, having never heard of her before). No doubt, in her own way, Anna Lindh will be seen as a victim of modern Swedish society.
But that does not mean Sweden should turn its back on its values. Quite the opposite, in fact. To do so would be to surrender to a madman who prefers violence and bloodshed to rational argument. It might be a good idea to tighten security around public figures, especially during election campaigns. And a bit of bravery from bystanders used to minding their own business would not go amiss.
But, apart from that, the best monument the Swedish people can provide to Miss Lindh would be to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and carry on, wiser than before, just like Rudolph Giuliani. You never know, they might find they have more in common with him than they think. "We have learnt that we can be hurt, that we can mourn," he said on Wednesday, "that we can even be afraid, but we can also move on with our lives."
And it is because of this, that countries like Sweden can afford their little welfare state. They don't have to worry about defending against the bad guys themselves, they just leave that to us (and then criticize us when we actually do it.)
Swedes Rally for Lindh, Markets See Euro 'No'
2 hours, 36 minutes ago
By Karin Lundback
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Swedes rallied on Friday in outrage at the murder of Anna Lindh as markets bet on a "No" result in Sunday's euro referendum despite sympathy for the pro-euro foreign minister.
Investigators have circulated pictures of a man who fits the description of Lindh's attacker to Stockholm's police force.
The images were taken from a surveillance camera in the city's NK department store where she was stabbed on Wednesday. "We are interested in contacting this man," police spokeswoman Tina Gustafsson told Reuters.
Gustafsson said police did not want to give the pictures to the media yet because they could influence witnesses being interviewed by police.
Up to 50,000 people, many carrying red roses, staged Sweden's biggest political demonstration since the Vietnam War a few blocks from where Lindh was knifed and close to where Prime Minister Olof Palme was gunned down in an unsolved 1986 killing.
"We lost her, but our anger over the loss must not paralyze us," Prime Minister Goran Persson said, urging the crowd to turn out to vote in Sunday's referendum on whether to ditch the crown for the euro.
The 46-year-old mother of two, one of Sweden's most popular politicians tipped as a successor to Persson, led the "Yes" campaign with him on joining the European Union's single currency but most polls point to a "No" result. Politicians have suspended the campaign.
In an apparent surge of sympathy, a Skop institute poll showed the "Yes" and "No" camps in a 50-50 tie. The poll surveyed 792 voters after Lindh died.
But the Swedish crown slipped from three-month highs when investors placed more trust in a Sifo survey, also taken after Lindh's death, showing the "No" campaign had widened its lead to 50-38 percent from 49-39. The sample was just over 1,000.
A Gallup opinion poll for the daily Expressen had 91 percent of the 1,003 surveyed saying their decision on the euro would be unaffected by grief at Lindh's murder. Five percent said they may be swayed while others were undecided.
"Yesterday, I said to myself I don't care, I don't want to vote. But now I am going to vote 'Yes' because of her," said Lisa Bjornestig, a 62-year-old office cleaner at a memorial in the town of Sodertalje, about 25 miles from Stockholm.
Barbro Hellberg, 68, said in Stockholm she would still vote "No," accusing France of flouting EU budget rules for the euro. "In a team, everyone should stick to the rules," she said.
SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE
Stockholm police commissioner Leif Jennekvist said the man captured on film fitted the killer's description -- compiled from witness accounts -- very well and the prospects of catching him were "very good."
Prosecutor Agneta Bildberg, who is now leading the Palme investigation, was also assigned to the Lindh case. Experts said the killer's identity might sway voters to a "Yes" if the murder was politically motivated.
The "Yes" side has trailed in all polls since April despite its high-profile campaign backed by mainstream politicians and big business. The "No" side has tapped into a deep vein of mistrust of the EU, especially among women, the left and Greens and those dependent on Sweden's cradle-to-grave welfare system.
Lindh will be buried next Friday at a private funeral. Muslims in Sweden devoted Friday prayers to Lindh, the first time a non-Muslim was so honored in Sweden.
(Additional reporting by Stephen Brown, Jan Strupczewski, Niklas Pollard, Peter Starck, Patrick McLoughlin, Anna Peltola and Alister Doyle)
Some 25,000 people participate in a memorial service for slain Foreign Minister Anna Lindh at Sergel Square in central Stockholm.(AFP/Jonas Ekstromer)
STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Police pinned their hopes on a department store video recording in the hunt for Anna Lindh's killer as more than 100,000 mourners, led by Prime Minister Goeran Persson, paid tribute to the slain foreign minister.
Cameras at the upscale Nordiska Kompaniet department store were "telling", Stockholm criminal police chief Leif Jennekvist told reporters at a daily press conference, adding that the footage was still being analysed.
A man matching witness descriptions was captured on tape before the fatal stabbing, he said, adding that investigators may show the tape to witnesses and possibly release it to the public to aid the search.
Lindh was stabbed in the arm, abdomen and chest by her assailant while she was out shopping in Stockholm on Wednesday. She died early Thursday of massive internal bleeding.
Her assailant fled the store on foot.
Despite having received more than 1,000 tips, police said they had no concrete information on the killer's identity and urged people who may have any information linked to the attack to come forward.
They were in particular seeking a woman in the store who witnesses said may have had a good look at the attacker, having come face-to-face with him as he fled the scene.
Police described the woman as about 50 to 55 years old, wearing a red jacket, and who yelled "Stop him!" as he ran away. "We think she could give us a good description of the man," Jennekvist told reporters.
Police have said they believe the assailant might have killed before.
"This is not the act of a novice criminal. The killer has done this kind of thing before -- you don't begin your criminal career with this kind of crime," they said.
Meanwhile, Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson led more than 50,000 people in a rally held in Lindh's honour and against violence at Stockholm's central Sergels Torg square.
"Everything would have been so much more difficult if we had not been able to share each other's grief," said an emotional Persson, his voice quivering, thanking the crowd for attending the rally.
Hailing her ability to combine a high-pressure public life with loving care for her family, Persson called Lindh "an important role model for many young women."
A song, "An Angel in the Room" sung by Swedish star Eva Dahlgren echoed across the square as the massive crowd of young and old -- some holding red roses and others waving Swedish flags -- swayed silently in unison.
A huge gathering with more than 20,000 people was also held in Gothenburg, Sweden's second city and a bulwark of support for Lindh's Social Democratic party.
There were more than 40 smaller rallies across the country.
Despite the national trauma provoked by the attack, Sweden's political leaders decided to allow a hotly-contested referendum on whether to adopt the euro as Sweden's currency instead of the krona to go ahead on Sunday as planned.
"Campaign activity and rhetoric has been called off (after Lindh's death), but not the responsibility that you and I share," Persson said in reference to the referendum.
"We lost her, but our anger and our loss shall not paralyze us," he added.
Contrasting opinion polls have however kept Swedes guessing as to whether the slaying of Lindh, who was an ardent supporter of adopting the euro, may sway the outcome in a vote that carries wide-ranging repercussions for Europe.
For months until Lindh's death on Thursday, the "no" camp held a commanding lead in opinion polls, but the emergence of a sympathy vote since the death of the leading pro-euro campaigner has thrown the race wider open than anybody had predicted.
While one poll on Friday gave the "no" camp a commanding lead, another survey, also conducted after Lindh's death credited the "yes" camp with a dramatic increase in voter intentions.
That poll showed euro supporters and opponents neck-and-neck after Lindh's death, compared to 58 percent for the "no" and 42 percent for the "yes" before the tragedy.
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