Sweden: Swedes have been stunned by the murder of their Foreign Minister. Derek Scally reports from Stockholm
Sweden wept yesterday. A country wept for a mother of two young boys and for the "crown princess" of Swedish politics whose young life had come to a violent end.
People walked the streets of Stockholm in shock, dozens clutching flowers, their destination obvious.
Ms Anna Lindh (46), the Swedish Foreign Minister, hurried into the city's NK department store on Wednesday evening and left on a stretcher, the victim of a stabbing that was to prove fatal.
Less than 24 hours later, crowds gathered around the store's main entrance, spilling from the wide pavements onto the busy street. On either side of the doors were two knee-high mounds of flowers, growing every minute. Candles surrounded the flowers, while in the centre lay a portrait of a smiling Ms Lindh and a sign in child's writing: "Rest in Peace, Anna."
"She was the best we had in the government and that is a real loss. But she was a mother of two boys, that's the real tragedy, it's all I can think about," said Ms Angela Andersson, watching the silent crowd of young and old.
Two sailors removed their hats to lay red roses on the pile.
"She was part of the state apparatus we were supposed to defend but that broke down," said Ulf, one of the sailors. "She was our face to Europe, a young energetic person and she's gone now. It's too much to take it," he said, doing his best to hold back tears.
"She was the crown princess, she was going to be our next prime minister," said Mr Anders Gustavson. "Everyone else was all the same, at each others' throats, but she didn't bother with that, and people liked that."
Late in the evening, six members of an ambulance crew, still in their uniforms, arrived to lay flowers.
"Colleagues of ours brought her in. They are as shocked as we are because we thought last night that she was going to be all right," said one of the Sjukvaren ambulance crew who declined to give his name. "It's too much for a September 11th, there's already enough tragedy associated with that date."
Outside the nearby Riksdag parliament building, chatting pedestrians slowed and fell silent as they approached the steps of the building, now also carpeted with red and yellow roses. Some stood frozen with ashen faces, couples held each other, many crying bitterly. One woman knelt to add a flower to the rapidly growing pile, lips trembling and eyes welling up.
"We'll never forget your great work for Sweden, Europe and the world. We'll never forget you," read a card beside her roses.
"It's a terrible shock, you have no idea. People are talking about how this will change how open we are here. I hope not," said Ms Gunilla Persson.
A small poster outside NK reminded people of the country's last political assassination and posed an uncomfortable question: "A prime minister murdered on an open street in 1986. A minister murdered again in 2003. What is wrong with the spirit of Stockholm? We should not assume we are so healthy."
People walked away from the make-shift shrines wiping their eyes and shaking their heads.
"We are used to thinking we are a nice safe country with sane, normal, quiet-living people. I think we'll all be thinking about that tomorrow and the day after. People are scared," said Gunnel.
"This is a tragedy for democracy everywhere. This changes everything for us, the fact that we are here already shows that," said Anna, clutching two red roses.
Many people on the streets of Stockholm said they were happy that Sunday's referendum on joining the euro zone was going ahead, but others said they were more confused than happy.
"It's a terrible feeling. Something like this couldn't, shouldn't happen in Sweden," said Ms Mira Andersson. "I'm not sure I want to vote on Sunday now."
"Incredible, just incredible. She was such a role model for all of us and such a great representative for Sweden abroad. There will have to be changes to security. It's the end of something. She has, she had, two boys, it breaks my heart," said Ms Rebecca Crusoe.
There were few answers to the murder of Ms Lindh yesterday, but many questions on Swedish lips.