Sweden’s Jewish community has called on police to stop a neo-Nazi group from marching near a synagogue on Yom Kippur.
The far right Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) had initially sought permission to stage its march on one of the busiest roads in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-largest city.
Instead, authorities instructed the group to change its route before it allowed the march to go ahead, but the new route still passes not far from a synagogue.
The timing of the march, on Yom Kippur, is also a concern.
Aron Verstandig, the chairman of the Official Council of Swedish Jewish Communities, and Allan Stutzinky, the chairman of the Jewish Community in Gothenburg, wrote a joint op-ed in Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, in which they said the march “evokes uncomfortable associations” for Jews.
“During the Holocaust it wasn’t unusual for the German Nazis to conduct their horrendous atrocities on the most important days of the Jewish calendar," the article read. “Let them stay in the periphery, where they belong.”
Several counter-protests are expected.
Earlier this year, anti-racism foundation Expo said that NRM was the “driving force” behind in neo-Nazi activity in Sweden in 2016, with propaganda-spreading the most common form of activity.
