The Båstad riots ( sv, Båstadskravallerna) is the name given to the riots that took place during a

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the orga ...

tennis match between Sweden and

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to th ...

on May 3, 1968 in

Båstad Båstad () is a locality and the seat of Båstad Municipality, Scania County, Sweden, with approximately 5,000 permanent residents. It is however one of Sweden's most typical summer resorts. The population is presumably more than twice as large be ...

, Sweden. Demonstrators were protesting the participation of the two

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

countries,

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, in the international tennis competition. The countries were barred from other international sporting events. It became the most violent confrontation between the Swedish police and demonstrators during the 1960s. It was followed by a dialogue between the

Swedish government The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Konungariket Sveriges regering) is the Cabinet (government), national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's Executive (government), executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Minister ...

and the demonstrators to curb the escalation of violence. The match later was played in secrecy, and Sweden won 4-1.

References

1968 Davis Cup 1968 in Sweden 1968 riots 1968 in tennis Riots and civil disorder in Sweden Sports riots Politics and sports Sport in Rhodesia May 1968 events in Europe Foreign relations of Rhodesia 1968 in Swedish tennis {{Rhodesia-stub