After several Quran burnings and threats from abroad, Stockholm is taking the fallout and raising its terror alert level to its second highest – for the first time since 2016.
The head of Sweden’s Säpo intelligence service, Charlotte von Essen, said at a press conference in Stockholm on Thursday that Sweden is in a worsened situation regarding the risk of an attack, which will last for a longer period of time. The decision was not the result of a single incident, but should be seen as a long-term evaluation.
Copies of the Koran had recently been set on fire or otherwise desecrated several times in Islamophobic actions in the Scandinavian country. The result was furious protests in predominantly Muslim countries, including attacks on the Swedish embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The al-Qaeda terror network had recently issued an alleged statement calling for attacks aimed at burning the Quran.
Concrete danger to the country
There are a total of five terror alert levels in NATO candidate country Sweden, with level 5 never being used. Level 4 means that the authorities believe that there is a concrete threat to the country and that actors have the intent and capacity to carry out attacks. In contrast to level 3, the assumption is no longer an “increased” but a “high threat”. The Säpo boss makes decisions on alert levels based on assessments by a national working group, which includes representatives from various government agencies.
Most recently, during the refugee crisis of 2015 and 2016, when Sweden took in an exceptionally large number of refugees, terror alert level 4 was in effect for several months. It was imposed shortly after the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015. At that time, the Islamic State terror militia had called for attacks in Europe.
Travel warnings and thwarted attacks
In recent days, Britain and the United States had warned their nationals not to travel to Sweden. Attacks in Sweden are very likely, the security authorities have already thwarted several attempts, the British Foreign Office said in its warning on Sunday.
In Sweden and Denmark, there have been several actions in recent weeks in which the Koran has been damaged or burned. This led to sharp reactions in Islamic countries. Both countries had condemned the burnings but tolerated them citing the protection of freedom of expression.
Source: Krone
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