A Swedish conservative MP has filed a police report after claiming to have been attacked and beaten by three men as he visited a pub with friends in the central Swedish town of Borlänge.
Rasmus Giertz of the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats (SD) party was enjoying dinner with a couple of political colleagues at a pub in the town on Friday evening when the incident took place, according to comments made to Sweden’s Aftonbladet newspaper.
Giertz, who is the chairman of his party in the country’s Dalarna County, was involved in an altercation that resulted in a serious assault at the pub.
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“There were several men unknown to us who recognized us as political representatives. They came up to us and called us various things, things that showed it was politically motivated. They said offensive things and held out their mobile cameras and tried to provoke reactions from us,” Giertz told the newspaper.
According to Giertz and his political colleague Daniel Lönn, the group of men called them “SD pussies” and “SD whores” inside the pub.
The Riksdag member said he asked the aggressors to leave his group in peace, before a member of the staff ordered both parties to vacate the premises.
Once outside the establishment, Giertz claimed the three man had waited for his group and started a fight.
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“When we came out, the three people ran straight towards us, they flew at me and punched and kicked my face and arms. One of my friends tried to pull these people away from me and get between them, and my other friend ran towards town and tried to find the police,” Giertz said.
Authorities were called to the scene and arrived shortly after the altercation to restore order.
“When I came out, the three men unknown to me were lying over Rasmus in the street,” Giertz’s friend Daniel Lönn, also a Sweden Democrats politician in Dalarna, told Aftonbladet. “I tried to break it up by pulling one guy aside and talking sense to him,” he added.
Giertz filed a formal complaint with local authorities on Monday, but found that he himself had already been reported to police.
“I have been severely abused. It would be very unfunny and strange if I were reported,” he said to the Swedish newspaper.
The case is being dealt with by the Special Prosecutor’s Chamber, which usually deals with complaints made against police officers and public figures.
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Prosecutor Åsa Idestrand confirmed to Aftonbladet that her office was investigating an assault outside the pub on Friday evening but would not divulge those involved in the incident.
She confirmed that three reports have been filed with police in relation to the incident.
“One of those who have been reported belongs to a staff category that is handled by the Special Prosecutor’s Chamber, and that is why I have the case,” Idestrand told the newspaper.
“Now we have to be more careful about hearing these people, as very short interrogations have been held. We are, of course, also looking to see if there are cameras at the scene,” Idestrand aded.
Giertz claimed to be in possession of videos and photos from the incident, which he does not want to share publicly yet but will await the progress of the police investigation.
“I am still very shaken by this whole incident. I still have pain and have mental and physical problems,” he said.
