Tell HN: Sweden has its first arrest against a man for "insult against official"
On July 2, it became illegal to phrase insults against publicly employed staff such as police officers, teachers, medical personnel, etc.
A 60 year old man in Sweden was stopped and arrested for both a DUI and the insults he said in conjunction to the police stop. The penalty scale for "insult against official" can be fines or up to 5 months in prison depending on severity.
/r/sweden discussion with news link (in Swedish):
https://old.reddit.com/r/sweden/comments/1lqnxea/f%C3%B6rsta_gripande_f%C3%B6r_f%C3%B6rol%C3%A4mpning_mot_polisen/
Seems like a bit of a nothingburger to be honest. Sweden has never had particularly strong freedom of speech (e.g. it was already illegal defamation to accuse someone of acts they are guilty of it hurts their reputation).
I feel like every UK building and most private companies have a sign saying something like "we take insults and abuse very seriously and will prosecute etc etc". I always see this in hospitals, civic buildings etc so assumed it's already part of normal law in the UK. Is there a reason you find this particularly disturbing? Not sure what the penalty is.
It seems many of these countries that have gone further left introduce laws against free speech. See: the UK.