SWEDEN: U.S. President Barack Obama meets Nordic leaders at working dinner in Sweden, while more than a thousand people take part in a march against the United States

Record ID: 572337

  • Title: SWEDEN: U.S. President Barack Obama meets Nordic leaders at working dinner in Sweden, while more than a thousand people take part in a march against the United States
  • Date: 4th September 2013
  • Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (SEPTEMBER 4, 2013) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS BANGING DRUMS "(U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK) OBAMA - GIVE ME FIVE" MAN, WITH BANNER SAYING "OBAMA TERRORIST" BANGING DRUM WIDE OF MARCH MAN WITH DEATH MASK AND HAT IN BLUE, RED AND WHITE MAN WITH SIGN SAYING "BOMBAMA" BANNER SAYING: "ASSANGE, MANNING, AND SNOWDEN - THE REAL SUPERMEN"/ WIDE OF MARCH MARCH VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CARRYING SIGNS SAYING "WE ARE CHELSEA MANNING - PIRATE PARTY" PEOPLE CHANTING "WE WANT FREEDOM FOR SYRIA" POLICE WALKING WITH PROTESTERS MEMBERS OF THE PIRATE PARTY WIDE OF MARCH PROTESTERS BANGING DRUMS PROTESTERS CARRYING BANNER SAYING: "USA - OUT OF GUANTANAMO" PROTESTERS CARRYING BANNER SAYING: "NATO OUT OF SWEDEN" PROTESTERS CARRYING LARGE FLAG CHANTING "SYRIA, SYRIA"/ WOMAN CARRYING PORTRAIT OF SYRIAN PRESIDENT BASHAR AL-ASSAD MAN SHOUTING VARIOUS OF POLICE SEPARATING THE TWO SYRIAN GROUPS MAN ON THE GROUND BEING LOOKED AFTER MAN SHOUTING
  • Embargoed: 19th September 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sweden
  • Country: Sweden
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA862ENC2G5EMZPOG6EGXTV7DNM
  • Story Text: U.S. President Barack Obama, who is visiting Sweden, met Nordic leaders at a working dinner on Wednesday (September 4) evening hosted by Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.
    The dinner took place at the Sager Palace which is the official residence of the Swedish prime minister.
    Obama, who is in Sweden for a 24-hour visit en route to a G20 meeting in St Petersburg, met the prime ministers of Denmark, Norway and Iceland as well as the Finnish president.
    The Nordic leaders are keen to show the importance of Europe's northern rim as new Arctic sea routes open and China and Russia explore for resources.
    Along with fellow-Nordic EU members Finland and Denmark, Sweden is also pushing for a landmark EU-U.S. free trade deal.
    Obama will end his visit with a meeting at the royal palace with Sweden's King Carl Gustaf on Thursday (September 5) morning.
    Meanwhile in the Swedish capital more than one thousand people took part in a march against the United States protesting against a wide range of issues.
    Around thirty groups, mostly left-wing and peace movements, were taking part in the demonstration. Many of the demonstrators were also there because of the conflict in Syria - some calling for Obama to stay out of the conflict and some for him to get involved.
    At a news conference earlier in the day, Obama issued a blunt challenge to sceptical U.S. lawmakers to approve his plan for a military strike on Syria.
    Using his visit to Sweden to build his case for military action, Obama insisted that the world could not remain silent after the "barbarism" of the August 21 chemical weapons attack he blamed on the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
    The demonstrators were holding banners saying "Assange, Manning and Snowden - the real supermen", a reference to the documents leaked by Edward Snowden showing the National Security Agency monitors a vast array of email and telephone data of both Americans and foreigners.
    Others were showing their support for Chelsea Manning, a U.S. soldier convicted of providing secret files to WikiLeaks in the biggest breach of classified materials in the nation's history.
    The demonstration started off in a square on the south island of Stockholm and ended near the parliament building, close to the Swedish Prime Minister's residence where Obama and the Nordic leaders will hold a working dinner.
    At one stage the situation got tense between the Syrian groups, but the march ended peacefully. The police could not give an exact number of protesters.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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