Jimmie Åkesson, the leader of the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna), traveled to the Turkish side of the border with Greece to hand out flyers to migrants that read “Sweden is full” (in English).
Below is a report from Swedish state television about Mr. Åkesson’s visit. Many thanks to Kronans Martell (Ullis News) for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Video transcript:
| 00:00 | The party leader of the Sweden Democrats has traveled to the Greek-Turkish border | |
| 00:05 | to distribute leaflets to the refugees and migrants, which state that “Sweden is full.” | |
| 00:12 | Jimmie Åkesson is with us from Erdine, on the Turkish side of the border. | |
| 00:17 | Tell us: why are you doing this? | |
| 00:22 | First and foremost, it is to build my own perception in regard to what’s happening here. | |
| 00:28 | To know who is here and where they’re heading to. | |
| 00:31 | What they mention is obvious: it’s Europe, the northern countries … Germany and Sweden. | |
| 00:38 | These are their popular destinations. | |
| 00:42 | There are certainly some families with children, and some say that they’re Syrians. | |
| 00:49 | But many are generally young and adult men from Iran and Morocco, | |
| 00:56 | I met some of them yesterday. | |
| 00:59 | So this isn’t merely about Syria. But migrants in general. | |
| 01:03 | You travelled with your chief of staff, but were also accompanied | |
| 01:06 | by photographers from Svenska Dagbladet [newspaper]. | |
| 01:09 | Is this maneuver primarily aimed at Swedish voters? | |
| 01:14 | Or the people, according to you, who are escaping the war in Syria? | |
| 01:19 | It’s primarily, for me, about observing what’s happening here on the ground. | |
| 01:24 | But if you can inform both the people here and in Sweden, | |
| 01:31 | then I think that’s good as well. —Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it all the way to the border. | |
| 01:37 | We’re a few hundred meters away from the border crossing. | |
| 01:41 | The place was blocked a few days ago. | |
| 01:44 | There are a huge number of police officers here. | |
| 01:48 | Therefore, we couldn’t make it to the big crowd. | |
| 01:51 | You’re signing the leaflets by stating, “Sweden Democrats and the Swedish people.” | |
| 01:56 | In what way you are spokespersons for the Swedish people? | |
| 02:00 | Regarding this subject, I’d state that we represent the vast majority of Swedish voters, | |
| 02:06 | who want a more responsible migration policy and don’t want to repeat another 2015. | |
| 02:12 | As the situation is now, we’re convinced that we should help Greece | |
| 02:16 | maintain the EU’s external border. | |
| 02:19 | We already need to maintain border control checks in Sweden, | |
| 02:24 | before the chaos rises again, to be able to control the situation. | |
| 02:28 | Which plan you deem to be better? What do you say about helping Greece? | |
| 02:35 | Helping Greece partially within the EU’s cooperation framework, | |
| 02:40 | but also by providing hands-on assistance from Sweden with staff and funds, | |
| 02:46 | to be able to support Greece in maintaining the border; which is crucial. | |
| 02:53 | Otherwise, if EU’s external border falls, it’ll be a new 2015. | |
| 02:57 | The general director of the Swedish Migration Agency doesn’t agree with that understanding at all. | |
| 03:03 | He says that there are steps within Europe where countries can maintain their borders, | |
| 03:09 | You see a risk that these people will reach Sweden. But he thinks of another scenario! | |
| 03:16 | My assessment is that when they cross the border into Greece, | |
| 03:25 | it’s very probable that they can travel throughout Europe. | |
| 03:33 | [inaudible] | |
| 03:37 | We can’t hear you here either. | |
| 03:40 | We’ll try to call you back soon, so can we hear each others. | |
| 03:48 | Jimmie Åkesson has traveled to Erdine, | |
| 03:52 | on the Turkish side of the Greek-Turkish border. | |
| 03:57 | In order to build his own viewpoint of the situation on the ground, | |
| 04:02 | and to give out leaflets to the refugees and migrants, with a message that “Sweden is full.” | |
| 04:09 | We’re back to Jimmie Åkesson, can you hear us clearly? | |
| 04:16 | I can. —Ulf Kristersson [the Moderate Party leader] says this a “symbolic act”, | |
| 04:22 | and the deputy chief of the Center Party says, | |
| 04:25 | “You’re using vulnerable people in a political game.” | |
| 04:28 | How do you respond to these critics? —I think all Swedish politicians | |
| 04:32 | should come here to draw their own conclusions. | |
| 04:35 | Since I’ve been here, just over a day, I have talked with many people. | |
| 04:40 | Including migrants, paramedics and police officers, and many others | |
| 04:44 | who are working on this and are here on the ground. | |
| 04:48 | I have reached my own understanding of what this is all about; everybody should do the same. | |
| 04:53 | How do you summarize your impression of being present there? | |
| 04:58 | Sweden is still a very attractive goal for many people, | |
| 05:03 | who are living in worse circumstances than we do in Sweden. | |
| 05:08 | I could understand that and I feel sympathy for them. | |
| 05:11 | But Sweden still has serious problems, | |
| 05:14 | and not least those related to the previous migration wave in 2015. | |
| 05:18 | We should handle the problem we currently have, | |
| 05:22 | rather than filling the country up with new asylum seekers. | |
| 05:25 | Jimmie Åkesson, thanks for being on the program. |
Listening to these Swedes “converse” reminds me of Nero playing with his musical instrument while Rome burnt. Except this is a nation burning itself out. There will be no rebuilding. Maybe.
hmmm.Was there in the booklet part 2 hi didn’t mentioned to us ..”go to CEE ” ?
Swedish Lutheran cultur arrogance is breathtaking..
Seems to me Jimmy should have been standing on the main street in Stockholm, passing the leaflets out to Swedish voters.
A man with a plan.
“Man plans and God laughs”. I so want this to be true for alah islam. Why is this gang’s lies not torn to shreds one by one on the public airwaves?