Liberals Probe Councillor Who Warned of Islamist Infiltration

SWEDEN - A Liberal Party politician in Sweden warned on Facebook that Islamist infiltration of the West is happening "in real time". Now his own party has opened an internal investigation into him.

Staffan Eriksson is new to local politics. He topped the Liberal list in the municipality of Östhammar, north of Uppsala, and holds the party's only seat on the council.

His post was about the American election. He shared a picture of Abdul El-Sayed, newly elected senator for Michigan, together with a warning about where the West is heading.

"The Islamist infiltration of the West is happening in real time, slowly but surely. Western civilization will soon have played out its role," he wrote. "I wonder what will be left of democracy and individual freedoms in 50-100 years?"

Local paper went after him

The words caught the attention of the regional daily Upsala Nya Tidning, which confronted him with questions such as whether he thinks all Muslims are Islamists, and whether his views are compatible with liberal politics.

"This has nothing to do with politics in Östhammar, these are my own opinions. I simply don't like El-Sayed," Eriksson told the paper.

He explained that he is a historian and has always been critical of Islamism. "I'm an old historian and I've thought this way for a long time. The world is going downhill and the Islamists will help if they get the chance. They want a different society," he said.

Asked whether he regards all Muslims as Islamists, he said no, adding that one has to hope they are not.

Deleted the post but stands by it

Eriksson took the post down after people he did not know began turning up in the comments. But he has not distanced himself from what he wrote.

He said he has lived and gone to school in the United States and therefore has views on developments there. He also voiced concern over what he described as links between the left and Islamist organisations, pointing to a suspected election fraud case in the town of Borlänge and a Left Party candidate who was voted into parliament on personal votes.

One reason he got involved with the Liberals at local level was the party's openness to sharing power with the Sweden Democrats. Before the election he wrote that he believes in practical policy and realistic judgements about how the Tidö cooperation between the right-wing parties can be developed.

"Harsh and categorical"

Thea Andersson, who chairs the Liberals in Uppsala County, has spoken with Eriksson. She does not share his views and welcomes the fact that the post was deleted. Even so, the party will handle the matter internally under its own rules.

According to Andersson, a political office comes with responsibility even for what is published on a private Facebook page.

"I haven't heard that he held views like these before. Staffan is new as a politician and a well-liked person in his local community. But what he says is harsh and categorical," she told the paper.