STOCKHOLM—seven men were arrested on Thursday afternoon after breaking into the Libyan embassy building in Stockholm in an apparent protest at Col. Moammar Gadhafi's regime, Swedish police said.
View Full Image
Associated Press
Protesters hang a pre-Gadhafi Libyan flag from the Libyan Embassy in Stockholm Thursday after breaking into the building and tearing down images of Col. Moammar Gadhafi and throwing them out of the windows.
Officers were alerted of the trespassing after an intruder alarm went off inside the embassy building in the eastern district of the capital. Some twenty police patrol units were dispatched to the location and officers sealed off the area. The embassy building has been unoccupied since February when the embassy staff walked out in protest over Col. Moammar Gadhafi's regime and there were no staff on the premises apart from two security guards.
The protesters, who police said weren't speaking Swedish, threatened to jump out of the windows of the three-storey building. They had put up a sign written in English out of one of the windows saying: ""We will kill ourselves if you try come in." Stockholm Police Inspector Kjell Lindgren said the group had indicated that they were in possession of flammable liquid. Rescue personnel were at the location and had inflated safety mattresses outside the building.
Initially, police attempted to negotiate with the group but it later decided to enter the building by force.
"Shortly after, special forces entered the building and arrested seven men," Mr. Lindgren said, adding that the police task force used vehicles with ladders to enter through the windows of the building.
The men were taken to the Stockholm City police station for questioning. Police said that the arrested men are suspected of unlawful entry, arson and vandalism. None of the suspects were in need of medical attention.
Police declined to comment on exactly what the group had demanded. Prior to arresting the seven men, four people thought to be connected to the protest had been arrested outside the building.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry said they know of only one representative of Col. Gadhafi's government in Sweden but they have no information about his whereabouts. The Libyan Embassy receives protection under the Vienna Convention, though Sweden doesn't formally recognize representatives of either Col. Gadhafi's government or the opposition as legitimate, a Swedish government spokesman said.
moammar gadhafi, intruder alarm, stockholm city, police task force, libyan embassy, swedish police, embassy staff, seven men, libyan flag, unlawful entry, police inspector, police patrol, lindgren, city police, thursday afternoon, security guards, kjell, arson, medical attention, vandalism
No comments:
Post a Comment