Report: Swedish neo-Nazis more violent

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- A member of the Swedish Security Service says the country's three largest neo-Nazi organizations have become more likely to use violence.

Johan Olson told The Local the parties also appear to be better armed. He said the groups have not become more active but the nature of their activities has changed.

"This is a result of disagreements within the white power movement," he said. "There has therefore been a need to raise their respective profiles."

The magazine Expo surveyed the activities of the National Socialist Front, the Swedish Resistance Movement and Info-14. During 2007, the three groups were active in 19 of the country's 21 provinces -- with Stockholm, the Gothenburg area on the west coast and the southern province of Skane seeing the most activity.

One SMR member was convicted of attempted manslaughter in Stockholm.

Expo said more than 60 percent of the groups' visible work was propaganda, with vandalism accounting for about 30 percent. Other activities included open meetings and concerts and public demonstrations.