Some citizens do not want Sweden to join NATO.
With banners “No to NATO” and “Stop Aurora 23”, about 2,500 people demonstrated today in the center of Gothenburg against Sweden’s membership in the North Atlantic Alliance. Demonstrators called for adherence to the country’s traditional foreign policy line and preservation of neutrality, chanting slogans “Not a soldier, not a rifle, not a crown for the NATO army“, the newspaper “Geteborg posten” reports.
“We absolutely do not want to join this war of superpowers that is being waged between the USA, China and Russia, where we become only a vassal state in the political game of the great powers,” said Gunel Berge, a protester and one of the organizers of the Gothenburg Peace Committee. According to the police statement, the protests were peaceful, and the gathering disrupted the operation of two public transport lines.
“We are here because we want to remain free,” said Gunel Berge, another organizer of the Gothenburg Peace Committee. They also demonstrated against the Aurora 23 military exercise: “To allow such a military exercise on Swedish soil is like opening our arms to NATO. It is a big question and it is something we should have a referendum on, whether Sweden should join to NATO. We are against all wars”.
(WORLD)