Handful of Nazis got protection from hundreds of police, yet got beaten  – SUF Göteborg’s [Swedish Anarcho-Syndicalist Youth Federation Gothenburg’s] statement on anti-fascist May Day in Kungälv.

The club began the day by gathering for a pre-meeting in Gothenburg, before we together went to Kungälv. On location we gathered together with other anti-fascists at the Travel Center at 11:30 to participate in Gothenburg’s Anti-fascist Front’s [Göteborgs Antifascistiska Front, GAF] counter-demonstration. Banners were handed out to the demonstration’s participants and the front banner was unveiled. According to the papers the demo consisted of about 500 people.

The demo went from Travel Center to Komministergatan [street], where GAF’s arrangement was ended and everyone could continue on their own. We then chose to together with the anti-fascist crowd of people move towards Nytorget [a town square]. The police had blocked the area around the place, so to even get close one was forced to two by two get let through into their corrals.

Once in there the police tried to push us into a smaller area to gain control over the location, so we linked together to stand against their assault. Reinforcements were quickly called in, police vans blocked off the area and in the corner of the eye we spotted the Nordic Resistance Movement’s [Nordiska motståndsrörelsen, NMR, the Nazis] demonstration march.

Their day did not start as filled of hope as ours – the parking lot they gathered on was according to rumor covered with slogans like ”FUCK NMR”.

At the most we were well over a thousand counter-demonstrators at Nytorget. A clear sign of how much stronger we are than the Nazis, who is spite of having mobilized from the entire country only managed to scrape together about 250 people.

When we spotted them we tried to exit at the side of the cordoning, which made the cops call in the cavalry. Anti-fascist counter-demonstrators threw firecrackers and pyrotechnics in response to this, which made the horses shy back and the police that sat on them whip furiously with their whips.

All solidarity to the cop-horsies, they too are victims of the police! Animals of course don’t belong in stressful situations like these.

After NMR had marched on towards Nytorget the crowd of people went closer to their assigned demonstration location to show what they could do. Fruit and other yummies soon rained over the Nazis while they lined up. In video clips from within their march one can see how the panic spreads when the thunderous sound of firecrackers was heard again and again from inside their own lines.

At the same time as that tumult appeared, anti-fascists at the front started tipping the fences that separated the crowd of people from the tiny number of ties-adorned and shield-bearing Fascists. The police had to once again call in reinforcements in the form of a line of riot police and a line of horse. When this was not enough several police vans drove forward and the riot police frantically used both batons and pepper spray.

Nigh hundred costumed Nazis

It was noticeable that the police felt threatened by the enormous wrath the Nazis awoke in the gathered counter-demonstrators. They by and by deployed lots of both uniformed and plainclothes police in the crowd – wherever one turned one eventually saw examples of the well known counter-demonstrator type ‘jacked dude with stubble, hoodie and earpiece’, which temporarily dampened the anti-fascist resistance..

It did however not seem as if the police had thought much farther than corrals, undercovers and horses, as NMR’s march back didn’t get one quiet moment. To protect the Nazis from the furious crowd the cops were forced to box in their demonstration march completely, see picture below.

In connection to this NMR also got in a violent confrontation with both police and bushes. The result was that several of them were apprehended or left Kungälv with injuries.

At this time it was also high time for us in SUF and other Socialists to go back to Gothenburg and hold our own May Day demonstration.

NMR had to wander back totally surrounded by police and police vans

We are proud of our contribution as an organization, that our effort at mobilizing made a difference, and how clear our cohesion in the club was manifested during the demonstration.

We are certain that NMR with all  the desired clarity were made aware what would have happened if they had not been protected by hundreds of cops. The reason they are ever able to hold demonstrations is because they have police escort from start to finish..

We want to thank all anti-fascists that were in Kungälv for standing up for what they believe in and really show whom May Day belongs to – that it will always be the labor movement’s day. We also want to thank the organizations that contributed to the arrangement around the counter-demonstration, especially our comrades in Göteborgs LS [Gothenburg’s Local Federation of the Anarcho-Syndicalist labor union SAC] that chose to postpone SAC’s demonstration to later the same day. When we stand united we can do anything!

Solidarity and thankfulness to all counter-demonstrators that were subjected to repression during the day – your sacrifices are meaningful.

Now we continue fighting for a Kungälv, a Sweden and a world free from Fascism.

Translated by b9AcE (https://soc.ialis.me/@b9AcE and https://twitter.com/b9AcE) to the best of my ability, from the original text in Swedish. Any errors are to be presumed mine, not SUF’s.