Criticism of the Swedish Police Authority for its passive processing of an application for a permit to organise a public gathering

Summary of the decision: The Sweden Democrats in Skurup applied for a permit to organise a public gathering. It was deemed that the use of public places involved in the application was such that the application needed to be passed on to the municipality for comment.

Despite the fact that the application was submitted to the Swedish Police Authority just over 10 weeks before the planned gathering, processing did not begin until the day before it was to take place. By then, it was not possible to obtain the municipality’s opinion and the application could not be processed in time. The gathering was therefore not held.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman notes that this passive processing was unacceptable and incompatible with the requirement of the Public Order Act (SFS 1993:1617) for prompt notification of a decision. The Parliamentary Ombudsman emphasises that the provisions of the Public Order Act concerning permits impose a restriction on the freedom to gather and demonstrate, and that it is important that the Swedish Police Authority’s permit review process is made efficient.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman underlines that this passive processing had serious consequences in that the gathering could not be held, and criticises the Swedish Police Authority accordingly.