Officials in Norrköping arrange for bells of city hall to peal tune from Spielberg's Holocaust film to counter far-right message

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Neo-Nazis who gathered for a rally in the Swedish city of Norrköping have been greeted by the theme song from Schindler's List ringing from the bells of the city hall.

Local government spokesman Ulf Mossberg said city officials decided the tune from Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning Holocaust drama was an appropriate way to demonstrate the city's belief in "the equal value of all people".

He said the bells of the clock tower played the song before and after a political rally on Tuesday by the Party of the Swedes, a small extremist group that wants to stop immigration and reserve Swedish citizenship for people with "western genetic and cultural heritage."

The party aims to win seats in local assemblies across Sweden in elections on 14 September.

Spielberg's 1993 film is based on the life of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories.