« If there hadn’t been any Islamisation or mass immigration then there wouldn’t have been anything to trigger Behring Breivik to do what he did, » wrote Hellsborn, who represents the party in Varberg in western Sweden.
« The ultimate responsibility is with the perpetrator, but if you are to discuss the underlying reasons which motivated him then it was caused by multiculturalism, » Hellsborn explained to the local Hallands Nyheter daily.
Hellsborn furthermore writes that he feels no shame or guilt that he and Anders Behring Breivik share the same nationalist ideology. Those who should feel guilt are those he calls « cosmopolitans » and argues that « in a Norwegian Norway this tragedy would never have happened ».
The political agenda detailed in Anders Behring Breivik’s « manifesto » bear striking similarity to the ideology professed by the Sweden Democrats and when asked if the the party should shoulder some responsibility, Hellsborn replied :
« No, Breivik is a product of the multicultural society. If Europe had not become multicultural then the shootings would not have happened, » he told Hallands Nyheter.
Sweden Democrat MP Kent Ekeroth also courted controversy on the evening of the attacks when used his twitter to ask : « Anyone care to guess who is behind the bombs in Norway ?.
He was warned by party secretary Björn Söder not to speculate before the cause of the attacks was known, but proceeded to write : »No I am not going to call you Islamophobes« .
Press secretary to Jimmie Åkesson, Linus Bylund, was also quick to draw conclusions, tweeting : »The next bastard who gushes about how sad it is for the nice Muslims when bleeding Norwegians are all over the streets will be blocked".