Man Shot at Sweden Pro-Kurdish Rally

A man was shot and critically injured at a pro-Kurdish rally in a Stockholm suburb at the weekend, police said on Sunday.

Organizers of the event said the incident in the suburb of Fittja on Saturday had a "political motive" but did not elaborate.

Police spokeswoman Ewa Nilsson told AFP the victim was in critical condition, adding that the assailant fled by car and was still at large.

Local media reported that the victim, described by the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper as a 52-year-old Kurdish man, was in a minibus covered in Kurdish flags that was following the march when he was shot.

"This is a direct attack against the protesters, against the Kurds," one of the rally organizers was quoted as saying by Swedish news agency TT.

There are about 170,000 Kurds in Sweden, which has a total population of 9.8 million.