Sweden: Anger mounts over anti-begging campaign

The far-right party's English-language adverts are aimed at tourists visiting the city but have provoked a huge backlash

There has been an angry reaction to anti-begging adverts which have been plastered across walls on Stockholm's underground system.

The adverts, created by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party, apologise to tourists visiting the Swedish capital for the "mess", the Aftonbladet newspaper reports. One stretches the entire length of the escalator at the city's Ostermalmstorg metro station, and says Sweden has a "serious problem with forced begging". Stockholm's transport company says it has received hundreds of complaints since the adverts first appeared on Monday, and that "98% of them are critical". Some of the posters have already been torn down by members of the public.

There was also anger on Facebook, where 12,000 people have signed up to attend a protest on Tuesday evening in central Stockholm. One of the protest's organisers tells The Local Sweden that while the party's views are well known, people are angry that the city's transport company approved the adverts. "We were shocked that our subway company allows these types of racist opinions about a group of people in society," Amie Bramme Sey, a radio host, tells the site.

A survey by Swedish broadcaster SVT in April estimated that there are around 4,000 EU migrants begging in Sweden, double the amount estimated a year earlier. In the same month, Aftonbladet surveyed Swedes' attitudes to begging, and found that almost half would support a ban, although Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has ruled that out.

Some of the posters were torn down only a day after appearing

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