Swedish prosecutors said Thursday they were charging dozens of people over a violent riot in that erupted after a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest last year.
The protest, which saw thousands gather in the southern city of Gothenburg in June 2020, unfolded calmly and was ended by the organizers, the authority said.
But a crowd broke off and continued to march and when they reached a public square in central Gothenburg, the situation escalated.
Sweden’s Prosecution Authority said Thursday 36 people have been charged over the incident.
“The violence has mainly been made up of members of the crowd, kicking, beating and throwing rocks and other objects against police and their vehicles,” public prosecutor Elisabeth Trouve said in a statement.
Charges included violent rioting, sabotaging emergency vehicles, vandalism, violence against officers and assault, the prosecution authority said.
Much of the evidence was gathered from videos from police bodycams, drones, some filmed by members of the public, and surveillance cameras, it added.
The Black Lives Matter movement, founded in 2013 in the United States, spread overseas in the summer of 2020.
Rallies were held globally following several cases of police brutality in the US, including the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Millions of people have taken part in Black Lives Matter protests in the US and around the world.
