A man was removed from the Sweden-Israel Friendship Association stand at the Gothenburg Book Fair on Saturday after red or blood-like liquid was directed at an Israeli flag displayed at the booth.
According to SVT and Sveriges Radio, the incident occurred at about 5:30 p.m. local time at stand H01:20 in the fair's Demokratitorget area. Swedish media reported that the man spat the liquid at the flag. Other reports described the substance more broadly as red paint or red liquid, so its exact composition has not been officially established.
Security personnel and uniformed police were seen at the stand and removed the man from the area. At the research cutoff, Swedish police had not confirmed a formal arrest, a suspected offense, or a criminal investigation connected to the incident.
What the viral video shows
The incident received wider international attention after Visegrád24 published video from the stand and described the event as an attack on the book fair by an "anti-Israel activist," claiming that red paint was thrown at "Swedish Jews" and an Israeli flag.
https://x.com/visegrad24/status/2103903721969082476
The video shows the Sweden-Israel Friendship Association branding above the stand, an Israeli flag or flag-style backdrop marked with red liquid, a man with red material on his face and hands, an assembled audience, and security personnel and uniformed police entering the stand and taking him away.
However, the video begins after the substance has already been released. It therefore does not establish how the liquid reached the flag, whether another person was struck, or what the substance was.
The Visegrád24 claim that "Swedish Jews" were attacked is also not supported by the reliable reporting reviewed for this article. Swedish reports identify the Israeli flag and the Sweden-Israel Friendship Association stand as the focus of the incident, but do not report that Jewish individuals were personally attacked.
Who was the man removed from the stand?
Göteborgs-Posten identified the man as Viktor Jonsson and described him as a Palestine activist. The newspaper quoted him after the incident as saying the action came from "a very deep frustration."
Police, however, had not publicly identified him or confirmed a political or organizational affiliation. For that reason, the "Palestine activist" description should be attributed to Göteborgs-Posten rather than presented as an official police classification.
Incident overlapped with an Israel and Middle East discussion
According to the official Gothenburg Book Fair program, a discussion featuring writer and political commentator Widar Andersson was scheduled at the same stand from 5:20 p.m. to 5:50 p.m. Its title translates as "Why do so many on the left lose their way when it comes to the Middle East?"
If Sveriges Radio's approximately 5:30 p.m. timing is accurate, the incident took place about ten minutes after that discussion was scheduled to begin. The video shows an audience and a microphone at the stand, consistent with an event being underway, although the footage alone does not establish who was speaking at the moment of the incident.
Earlier that day, the stand hosted a session titled "Israel and antisemitism in Brussels and the world" with David Lega, a former Swedish member of the European Parliament and current chair of the Sweden-Israel Friendship Association.
The stand was already at the center of controversy
The association's participation at the fair had drawn controversy before Saturday's incident. In the days before the fair opened, a police complaint was filed concerning some of the scheduled programming at the stand, including an appearance by Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF international spokesperson, earlier in the fair.
Two authors, Bisan Edwan and Iman Mersal, withdrew from the fair in protest over the program. Fair management said the association was an independent exhibitor and that exhibitors are editorially responsible for thousands of events held at their own stands. The fair also introduced an updated conduct code for the Demokratitorget area.
The filing of a police complaint is an allegation, not a finding that an offense occurred. No police decision substantiating the complaint was identified in the research reviewed for this article.
What is confirmed and what remains unclear
The strongest supported description is that a man directed red or blood-like liquid at an Israeli flag at the Sweden-Israel Friendship Association stand and was then removed from the area by security personnel and police.
What had not been officially confirmed by the research cutoff was whether he was formally arrested, questioned as a criminal suspect, charged, or placed under investigation. No reliable report reviewed confirmed an injury or established that Jewish individuals were personally targeted.
The substance itself had not been officially identified, making "red liquid" more precise at this stage than "red paint."
The Gothenburg Book Fair is one of the Nordic region's largest cultural events. It recorded 95,706 visits in 2025, along with 775 exhibitors and 3,750 program events. Saturday's incident took place inside a major European book fair, but the available evidence describes a targeted incident at a specific exhibitor stand rather than a verified attack on fairgoers generally.
