Interior Minister Mikael Damberg (S) does not want to answer the question of whether the police did the right to authorize the demonstrations.

- It is the police who must judge it, not me as minister. I should not have any ideas about how the police grant a permit, or handle a permit.

- However, I can say that it is extremely inappropriate to gather so many people. And it is illegal to be more than the 50 people to whom these permits have been granted.

Important to spark discussion

At the same time, Mikael Damberg says he can understand how not least many young people have seen pictures from the US and now want to manifest against both racism and deadly violence.

- But you have to understand that we are in the middle of a pandemic.

- If you gather so many people in the same place and it would happen to be a spread of infection, then you can contribute to both illness and death. And I don't think the protesters want to participate in that.

Mikael Damberg also says that it is important that there is now a discussion about this and that those who want to manifest against racism and deadly violence should do so, but in a way that does not gather. For example, using digital tools.

- It is important that we learn from these mistakes. It must be time to gather so many people in the same place.