Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap from me, Jakub Krupa.
Here are the three things to take away from today’s Europe Live blog:
Greenlanders could soon vote in a referendum on independence from Denmark under plans proposed by the ruling party, Siumut (9:21). Party leaders want to accelerate the independence process by triggering Section 21 of the Greenland Self-Government Act to negotiate the terms of a future relationship and hold an independence referendum within the next parliament. The promise comes just weeks before a snap election on 11 March and after growing pressure from US president Donald Trump, who expressed his interest in Greenland.
The Swedish government has announced its intention to pursue a gun control law reform in the aftermath of the Örebro attack, in which 11 people died, including the attacker (10:47). While none of the victims or the perpetrator have yet been named by police, first details emerged about some of those who died in the attack (15:51).
The Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has arrived in Santorini, accompanied by the country’s civil protection minister in what officials are calling “a show of solidarity” for the earthquake-stricken isle (10:28). But elsewhere, thousands of students have taken to the streets in towns and cities nationwide demanding justice for the victims of the country’s worst ever train crash two years ago this month (14:48).
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
Have a great weekend and see you on Monday!
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
First details emerge about Örebro victims
Nordic correspondent
The suspect in the Örebro shooting, who apparently killed himself, has been named in media reports as Rickard Andersson, 35, a former student of the school who lived locally. He is understood to have attended maths classes at the school a few years ago and had been unemployed for a decade.
Among the victims was Salim Iskef, 28, who phoned his fiancee, Kareen Elia, 24, from the school and told her he had been shot. “He called me and said: “I’ve been shot, they shot us.’ He said he loves me and that’s the last thing I heard,” she said in an interview.
None of the victims or the perpetrator have yet been named by police, but they have said that they include “multiple nationalities, different genders and different ages”. The Guardian understands that the dead include a Syrian man, an Eritrean mother of four and an Iranian woman. Police are investigating whether the shooting was racially motivated.
Fr Jacob Kasselia, a priest at St Maria Örebro, the Syrian Orthodox church that Iskef was a member of, said the community is reeling. “We have our doors open for everybody. You can see that everybody is affected. A dark cloud has come over us all. But despite that we say that we must look for the light,” he told the Guardian.
The number of non-Swedish victims will affect Örebro and the whole of Sweden, said Kasselia, who went to the remembrance service attended by the prime minister and the king and queen on Wednesday. “It is dark over us all.”
The Bosnian Islamic Community in Örebro said that in light of recent events it had been advised to increase security and had hired security guards to keep watch outside the mosque.
