The Nordic Resistance Movement is a pan-Nordic neo-Nazi movement in the Nordic countries and a political party in Sweden. Besides Sweden, it is established in Norway, Denmark and Iceland, and formerly in Finland before it was banned in 2019. Terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp has described the NRM as a terrorist organization due to their aim of abolishing democracy along with their paramilitary activities and weapons caches. In 2022, some members of the United States Congress began calling for the organization to be added to the United States Department of State list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. On 14 June 2024, the United States Department of State designated NRM and its leaders as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT).
Formation and structure In December 1997, Klas Lund and some other former members of the White Aryan Resistance (, also known as VAM) – a militant neo-Nazi network active from 1991 to 1993 – were released from prison after being convicted of robberies, bombings and killings, among other things. They formed the Swedish Resistance Movement ( or SMR) together with individuals working with the neo-Nazi magazine Folktribunen and members of ("National Youth"), a neofascist and openly racist organisation known for the murder of the anarchist Björn Söderberg.
In 2016, the Nordic Resistance Movement was formed, with separate affiliates in Sweden, Finland, and Norway; a Danish affiliate was later disbanded. The Nordic Resistance Movement advocates an immediate stop to what they call mass immigration to the Scandinavian countries, and the repatriation of people who are not of Northern European or of closely related descent. It also advocates Nordic self-sufficiency and withdrawal from the European Union.
On 28 February 2018, The Verge reported that Discord had shut down a number of neo-Nazi and alt-right servers, including that of the Nordic Resistance Movement, from their private chat platform for abuse of their Terms of Service.
In 2024, the NRM was designated a terrorist organization by the United States, which weakened the group by freezing its American assets and blocking it from the American financial system. The group is also weakened by a change in leadership and an ageing membership.
Ideology
The aim of Nordic Resistance Movement is to establish a Pan-Nordic neo-Nazi republic "consisting of the Nordic countries Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and possibly even the Baltic countries".
The organization says its struggle will require bloodshed:
The NRM has praised figures such as Adolf Hitler, Corneliu Codreanu, Hugo Chávez, Savitri Devi, George Lincoln Rockwell and Robert Jay Mathews in their publications. Their main tactics are distributing leaflets and making public speeches in inner-city areas in support of neo-Nazism, denouncing immigration. They also publish the Nationellt Motstånd magazine. NRM-affiliated far-right activist Tobias Bratt created the 2017 neo-Nazi propaganda film Europa: The Last Battle.
Sweden The Nordic Resistance Movement was founded by Klas Lund as the Swedish Resistance Movement (Swedish: Svenska motståndsrörelsen). In 2020, its leader was Simon Lindberg, and its political wing was managed by . It is known for its opposition to non-white immigration to Sweden. The NRM is considered a central actor in Sweden's white power movement. In November 2003 the Swedish Security Service raided homes of leading members, among them Lund, who was later sentenced to prison for illegal possession of firearms.
In May 2006, the Nordic Resistance Movement announced that the National Youth organisation and all its activities and members had been merged with the SRM. In December 2013, armed NRM members attacked an anti-racist demonstration in Stockholm which resulted in riots and clashes. Many were arrested afterwards. In the 2014 Swedish election, two members of the NRM were elected to Sweden Democrats seats in the municipal councils in Ludvika and Borlänge. In what has been described as a "coup" their names were added to Sweden Democrats' ballots that were open for additions. Late in 2015, the NRM was registered as a political party in Sweden, headed by the organization's spokesman, Pär Öberg.http://kungalvsposten.se/nyheter/nazistparti-vill-ta-plats-i-kungalv/ "The Nazi party, the Nordic Resistance Movement; NRM, will take part in the municipal elections in Kungälv next autumn"
Three men with ties to Swedish NRM were sentenced to prison for respectively eight and a half years, five years, and one and a half years on 7 July 2017 for three bombings in Gothenburg which took place in November 2016 and January 2017, one targeted at the trade union movement through the bombing of the syndicalist Syndikalistiskt Forum infoshop, echoing the 1999 Nazi murder of syndicalist Björn Söderberg and the subsequent firebombing of the SAC's industrial secretariat and museum located in Joe Hill's ancestral home. One person received life-threatening injuries at the bombing of a refugee centre in Västra Frölunda. They were convicted of two of the bombings. The men were part of a group of Swedish and Finnish neo-Nazis who went to Russia to receive military training in firearms and explosives from the Russian Imperial Movement. Police also arrested a Russian man connected to the RIM and NRM and confiscated two weapon caches.
On 30 September 2017, NRM staged a march with roughly 500 members taking part in Sweden's second largest city Göteborg, timed to coincide with the annual Göteborg Book Fair."Sweden's literati wrestle with the far right", Politico Europe, 29 September 2017, accessed 1 October 2017. Fighting broke out between NRM and counter-demonstrators. Twenty-two NRM members including the organisation's leader Simon Lindberg were arrested on suspicion of violent public disorder, and one counter-demonstrator was arrested on suspicion of attacking a police officer."NMR-ledaren Simon Lindberg anhållen efter nazimarschen", Aftonbladet, 1 October 2017, accessed 1 October 2017. Swedish Jews were outraged at the demonstration, which took place on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur and was originally planned to pass near a synagogue. The march was re-routed and shortened following a court ruling.
On 19 April 2018, fireworks were thrown at the U.S. embassy in Stockholm during a protest against the bombing of Syria. One NRM man was arrested. The same month a member was arrested for plotting to assassinate journalists. Police confiscated a shotgun from the man. On 6 July 2018, members of the NRM assaulted two pro-Israel activists in Gotland.Nazi threat stalks bucolic swedish political fest, Bloomberg.com, 8 July 2018. Accessed 15 August 2018.
Swedish-Estonian NRM member Oskar Laas was deported to Estonia in 2021 as a threat to national security for his extremist views. Laas' father was a founder of the local department of the EKRE and took part in NRM demonstrations, as did the younger Laas with another Estonian friend. Laas had taken pictures with his friend in face masks holding the book Siege, and attended events of Blue Awakening and Atomwaffen Division in Estonia.
On 6 July 2022, during Almedalen Week, Ing-Marie Wieselgren died after being stabbed at Donners plats in Visby. The arrested perpetrator was a 33-year-old man who had previously participated in events organized by the NRM and had written for the neo-Nazi website Nordfront.
In May 2022, the Swedish police arrested a man from Falköping for possessing firearms and powerful explosives. The police allege the man plotted mass shooting and bombing. According to Vice News the man possessed material by NRM, Iron March and Atomwaffen Division.
In April 2024, the NRM attacked a Roma encampment and destroyed it, and later the same month they attacked an antifascist gathering, assaulting the attendants and throwing smoke bombs. Three antifascists were beaten so badly they were hospitalized.
On 9 July 2025, the Swedish police came to arrest an NRM member in Östersund for violent threats when he started shooting at the police. The police threw a stun grenade at him and subdued him. The police had previously confiscated a firearm cache from the man due to his association with the NRM.
The NRM organized a torch march held in memory of the murdered skinhead Daniel Wretström in December 2025. Some 200 people attended the event.
The NRM secured 4.7% of votes in Campus Manilla elections, attended among others by princes and princesses of Sweden, sparking discussion of youth radicalization. The principal of the school stated that he will have to overhaul the political curriculum in response to the result.
Election results
Riksdag Election year Votes % Seats +/− Government 2018 2,106 0.03 (#18) New 2022 847 0.01 (#23) 0 2026 355 0.01 (#22) 0
European Parliament Election # of overall votes % of overall votes Seats +/− 2019 644 0.00 (#34) New
Nordic Strength Nordic Strength () is an underground paramilitary group, formed in August 2019 by the most hard-line NRM members who reject the parliamentary-oriented mass-organization strategy of the Swedish group as insufficiently radical. The group describes itself as an "activist organization" ("kamporganisation") and maintains very strict physical standards for its members. The members of the group have been convicted of over 100 violent crimes and weapon offenses and use an old church in Västmanland as their headquarters. Virtually nothing else is known about the underground sect of the already secretive group.
Finland
Pohjoismainen Vastarintaliike is the Finnish branch of the Nordic Resistance Movement. It was founded by Esa Henrik Holappa, who would later abandon neo-Nazism and leave the group. Its current leader is Antti Niemi. Some of the group's activities include planting of propaganda posters and organizing demonstrations. Members also participate in hand-to-hand combat and shooting training arranged by the organization. The group also advocates pan-Finno-Ugrism, or "Kindred-folk ideology" ("Heimoaate"), and unification with ethnically Finnic Estonia is part of the group's program.
The organisation is responsible for multiple violent crimes, including attacking anti-racism and gay pride demonstrations and stabbing participants of a left-wing event. According to an investigation by Yleisradio, two thirds of the members have a conviction for a violent crime. The NRM is responsible for the 2016 Helsinki Asema-aukio assault in which an involved antifascist died later. The group also awarded the title of "activist of the year" to a member convicted of torturing a man to death and possessing illegal weapons. The group assaults people they consider political enemies in their homes, a practice they dub "home visits". In 2020, a campaign chairman was left critically injured after being beaten with a clawhammer in his home in Jämsä. A man connected to the group is charged with attempted murder along with another man. The NRM also vandalized the Israeli embassy over 20 times and defaced synagogues, causing the Finnish ambassador to be called to the Israeli foreign ministry in Jerusalem twice. On 5 December 2020, Finnish police arrested a NRM member for murdering a fellow member, this time in Riihimäki. On 17 March 2021, Finnish police arrested another NRM member and confiscated several crates of explosives from his apartment.