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Tributes pour in for Lindh
STOCKHOLM , Sweden -- Politicians from around the world have paid tribute to one of Sweden's most popular figures, Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, who died after being stabbed repeatedly in a Stockholm department store. "Her family has lost a mother and a wife. Social Democracy has lost one of its most gifted politicians. The government has lost a skilled politician and a good colleague. Sweden has lost its face towards the world," said Prime Minister Goran Persson. Ordinary Swedes left red roses at the hospital and the store where Lindh, 46, was attacked Wednesday while shopping in a Stockholm department store. (Full story) Many were shocked by the death, the first political killing in their country since the unsolved assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme in a Stockholm street in 1986. (Security concerns) "It is horrible and incomprehensible," said Maud Olofsson, head of the opposition Centre Party. "Sweden has lost a great politician and a fantastic foreign minister." Lindh, who was married and the mother of two, was a forceful voice on human rights and proponent of the euro. (Profile) She dubbed U.S. President George W. Bush a "lone ranger" for going to war in Iraq. She criticized Italy's current EU presidency, saying Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi did not enjoy wide support. In the German parliament, speaker Wolfgang Thierse broke into a budget debate to break the news to shocked deputies, while Britain's Minister for Europe Dennis MacShane told BBC radio it was an "incalculable" loss to European politics. "She would have been a very big figure, I think a future prime minister of Sweden, a big figure on the European and international stage," he said. "Everybody loved her." British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Lindh's death was "a terrible tragedy." "This is an appalling event. Anna was a good friend of mine," he told reporters Thursday. "She was someone who was full of life.... She represented everything that was wonderful about Sweden and about Europe." The European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee held a moment of silence in her memory. "We will try to respect her commitment to European issues and let that be an example to us," said the committee chairwoman, Christa Randzio-Plath.
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