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Lone woman defies neo-Nazi march: ‘I was angry’

EDITED BY KALAHAN DENG

Activist Maria-Teresa “Tess” Asplund, 42, stood alone in confronting several hundred neo-Nazi marchers in Sweden, her fist firmly raised in protest.

Asplund’s defiant act only lasted for a couple of seconds — just enough for Swedish photographer David Lagerlöf to capture the image.
But Lagerlöf’s photo, which he posted to Twitter, has rocketed around the Internet and heaped praise on the slender woman with the close-cropped hair who has inspired others by showing courage in the face of hatred.
“When I did it, I was angry. I wasn’t scared,” Asplund told the media. “Now when I think about it, I understand it could have been worse. Now I see that.”
The march in Borlänge was organized by the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), a political party that opposes immigration to Sweden by non-whites. The marchers were parading down a street when Asplund stepped out in front of them and raised her fist briefly before police pushed her away.
“She was in real danger,” said Lagerlöf. “She had nothing to stand up to those guys. The Nazis that she confronted, there were many of them, they were bigger, they are used to violence, and what she did was she went up to them, stood in front of them and stared at the leaders, stared them in the eyes, and it should have ended really bad. “