Sweden reintroduces mass evacuation exercises for civilians in war

The mass evacuation exercises are being resumed so Swedish authorities can be confident that such a situation can be handled.

"That said, it sends a signal to the outside world that we can handle it," says Alf Söderman, Director of Defense at the Gotland County Administrative Board, to Ekot.

During the exercise on Gotland, up to 300 volunteer extras will be evacuated in county transport buses. A larger exercise will be held in northern Sweden in 2027.

Several mass evacuation exercises were carried out during the 1950s and 1960s. The largest exercise took place in Stockholm in 1961 with 30,000 participants, and was also the most recent such exercise.