Sweden's Foreign Minister Anna Lindh died yesterday after being stabbed by a mystery attacker on Wednesday, but her government declared her killing would not prevent a euro referendum from going ahead on Sunday.
The 46-year-old, tipped as a future prime minister, had been a leading campaigner for Sweden to adopt the EU's single currency. Swedes however appear likely to vote "No."
PHOTO: AP
One of Sweden's most popular politicians, Lindh was stabbed repeatedly in the chest, stomach and arms in a department store on Wednesday by an unidentified man in an army jacket who fled the scene. She died in hospital at 5:29am.
"Her family has lost a mother and a wife. Social Democracy has lost one of its most gifted politicians. The government has lost a skilled politician and a good colleague. Sweden has lost its face towards the world," said Prime Minister Goran Persson.
Tributes poured in. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called her a "great European," France's Dominique de Villepin praised her "enthusiasm, freshness and dynamism" and European Commission President Romano Prodi called "dedicated and courageous."
People left red roses at the store where she was attacked, at the hospital and at her ministry, where a flag few at half mast.
Surgeons at Stockholm's Karolinska hospital struggled all night to save her life, but issued a statement yesterday saying she had died of "massive bleeding caused by knife wounds to the liver and many of the big blood vessels in the abdomen."
Sweden was left in shock by its first political killing since the unsolved assassination of then-prime minister Olof Palme in a Stockholm street in 1986.
"My first thought when this happened was 'Not again!'" said a Stockholm shopkeeper.
It was not clear whether the attack was linked to the euro referendum, in which Lindh's pro-euro side has trailed badly in polls. Many Swedes do not want to entrust EU bureaucrats with an economy whose relative strength still upholds a cradle-to-grave welfare system.
Persson said the vote would be held to avoid "a situation where violence puts an end to the democratic process."
Persson announced a demonstration would be held today "for democracy, against violence" as police hunted for the killer, described as tall and "Swedish-looking" who dumped his army jacket and knife near the scene of the attack in central Stockholm.
Store video footage was being scanned for clues to his identity.
Except for Persson, politicians in Sweden rarely have bodyguards, preferring to stay close to the electorate.
That relaxed attitude is now likely to be reviewed, both in Sweden and in its Nordic neighbors.
Persson called the stabbing "an attack on our open society" and urgently ordered increased security around King Carl XVI Gustaf, top politicians and major public buildings.
Married with two children, Lindh became foreign minister in 1998 after a stellar career in the Social Democratic party which has ruled Sweden for six of the last seven decades.
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