STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- About 70 people were arrested Tuesday morning during a sit-in at a Swedish refugee center to protest plans to return Iraqis to their homeland, police said.
Kent Ole Nielsen, head of the Vastra Gotaland police, described the demonstrators as peaceful, the Swedish news agency TT reported.
"There has been no fuss. They are not troublemakers," Nielsen said. "They have indicated what they think and we have talked about what applies."
Protesters had also tried to block Swedish Prison and Probation Service vehicles from entering the center at Kallered near Gothenburg. Police towed the cars used in the blockade.
Iraqis being held at the center were scheduled to be moved to Stockholm on Tuesday and flown back to Iraq on Wednesday.
Sweden's decision to deport the refugees has been criticized by the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees, the Council of Europe and Amnesty International. They say the refugees belong to religious or ethnic minorities that face continuing persecution in Iraq.
