Sweden foreign minister dead

[3ric]

Swedish minister dies after stabbing

Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh has died in hospital from stab wounds inflicted while she was shopping in a department store in the centre of Stockholm.
Mrs Lindh, who suffered wounds to the chest, stomach and arms in the attack, spent most of the night in surgery as doctors tried unsuccessfully to save her life.

"During the operation it was confirmed that there was severe internal bleeding from a wound to the liver and several large blood vessels in the abdomen," a hospital statement said.

Mrs Lindh, a prominent figure in the pro-European currency campaign in Sweden and one of the country's most popular politicians, was attacked by an unknown assailant.

Full article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3098834.stm

Damn. This really makes me sad, and the fact that her stance in the referendum vote for the euro this Sunday was probably a motive for the attacker is just too difficult to cope with. It's not that important an issue. It isn't officially confirmed as the motive, but I can't help to think it was - she was one of the most popular public figures in the country.

[MIJB#19]

I heard about the stabbing on the news last night, but then she was still alive (though in critical conditions "they" said).
Sad news.
I have no idea what to say, really, other then that it is truely sad that politicians can't go out the door without bodyguards these days...

Kristian, I hope your country can find a way to live with the situation... (Sadly, your country has some experience with it...)

[MIJB#19]

Dola, I just realised the contrast with last nights Euro 2004 succesful qualification...

It makes me think back to the murdering of Pim Fortuijn and the contrast with the UEFA Cup being played in his city and won by the local football team (Feyenoord) just 2 days later. I have reason to believe it brings out the most amazing emotional difficulties in people, how can "we" celebrate sportive succes just on the same day as such a sad event...

[3ric]

Yes, the media has already mention the similarities to the Fortujin murder. It's difficult to get motivated to vote for something like the euro, but I hope people do - and vote yes, because that's what she would have wanted.

[MIJB#19]

Originally posted by 3ric
Yes, the media has already mention the similarities to the Fortujin murder. It's difficult to get motivated to vote for something like the euro, but I hope people do - and vote yes, because that's what she would have wanted.

3ric, if she was a prominent person in regards to the voting, I tell you, postponing the vote would be a wise dicission. People voting for something because they feel they need to because the person defending it died, that is not good for the democracy.

(Here's Fortuijn again) just a week after he died, some 1 million people voted for a dead person because they felt sorry, the goverment became the shortest goverment ever and now Fortuijn's idea have basically been flown over because of the voting going on as planned.

Really, if your goverment wants to avoid people voting without using their oppinion, but go vote "yes" in respect to Lindh, you might end up getting a result that does not reflect the actual oppinion.

Voting yes-or-now-Euro of course is something different then voting for a goverment, but a goverment is gone after 4 years, the Euro will be still there 50 years from now (and who knows how long?)

[Alf]

I think I heard that the voting has been postponed.

Last year, Paris mayor was also stabbed in the stomach (fortunately, he did not die but stayed a few weeks in the hospital).

That's a sad sad thing !

[3ric]

Originally posted by MIJB#19
3ric, if she was a prominent person in regards to the voting, I tell you, postponing the vote would be a wise dicission. People voting for something because they feel they need to because the person defending it died, that is not good for the democracy.

That's true, of course. Currently, a decision on whether to postpone the voting is being taken in account by the government and opposing party leaders in a joint meeting.

[3ric]

Dola. The decision has been made that the referendum vote will be held this Sunday as planned. It remains to be seen if her death will generate enough sympathy votes to swing the balance in favor of the euro.

[Coder]

I'm shocked about what has happened, and even though I'm not a social democrat, Anna Lindh was someone I had a lot of respect for. The event worries me, because for each terrible thing that happens, "innocent" people's privacy will also be scrutinized. However, I guess we should have learned after Olof Palme's assassination in 1986 that our politicians simply are targets for homocidal maniacs.

I would like to think that people here aren't going to vote yes or no because of their sympathy towards her and her family. We're three days away and people should have made up their minds already.

Yes, Anna Lindh was "for" EMU (as am I, I might add), but the decision on what to vote should be based on what you think will benefit our country and our future, not that you feel sorry for Lindh's family (she was married and had two young sons).

Well.. at least that's my opinion.

[Butter]

If I may ask some of you folks, I've recently gotten more interested in world politics (thanks to reading a lot of issues of The Economist), and remember reading that there were a lot of folks in Sweden who were VERY much not in favor of Sweden's involvement in the EU.

3ric, and others, is it really that surprising that it would've been the attackers motivation? And what are the current feelings in the country (and region) about adopting the Euro? I remember reading that Denmark has pretty well adopted it, effectively, if not officially. I know Scandinavia is a region that enjoys their differences from the rest of the continent, and in many ways is disconnected from it. I was just wondering the thoughts pro-and-con, or your own personal thoughts about entering more deeply into the EU and adopting the Euro.

[Coder]

Maybe I'm naive, but I don't think that Swedes in general would use this kind of violence to show their disapproval at a politicians point of view. Besides, I don't think that anyone can predict what the effect of this murder will be on the voting, and therefore an attack such as this is pointless if it was all about EMU.

By the way, Denmark is NOT part of EMU.

The public opinion (3 days before the election) is currently swayed towards no according to the polls. However, popular polls on the internet etc, show a slight increase in "yes-sayers" in the past few weeks. The last "official" poll still has NO as a clear winner though.

[vtbub]

Deepest sympathies.