--- title: Swedish Police Mistake '21' Birthday Balloons for ISIS Initials description: Swedish police mistook birthday balloons for a student's 21st birthday party as propaganda for the Islamic State (ISIS) this Monday. canonical: https://time.com/3721642/islamic-state-sweden-police-21-birthday-balloons-isis/ author: Sabrina Toppa article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-25T09:34:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:17:11.052Z og:title: Swedish Raid 21th Birthday Party Looking for ISIS og:description: They thought the '21' Balloons were the initials of the Islamic State. og:url: https://time.com/3721642/islamic-state-sweden-police-21-birthday-balloons-isis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Swedish Raid 21th Birthday Party Looking for ISIS twitter:description: They thought the '21' Balloons were the initials of the Islamic State. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Swedish Police Raid Apartment After Mistaking 21st Birthday Party Balloons for ISIS Initials by [Sabrina Toppa](https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Feb 25, 2015 9:34 AM UTC by [Sabrina Toppa](https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Feb 25, 2015 9:34 AM UTC Police swooped on a Swedish student’s flat this week after [mistaking](http://www.upi.com/Odd%5FNews/2015/02/24/Police-confuse-21-birthday-balloons-for-Islamic-State-initials/3431424801351/) balloons celebrating her 21st birthday party as propaganda for the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), otherwise known simply as the Islamic State. (Read backwards, the rounded numerals resembled the initials “IS.”) > [](https://twitter.com/P4%5FBlekinge/status/570211086684844032) Sarah Ericsson and her boyfriend Fabian Akesson adorned windows with celebratory balloons for her birthday bash in the southern city Karlskrona. Akesson said police cars arrived Monday after a passer-by had reported a window display featuring ISIS propaganda, reports UPI. “We understand why someone would report it if they thought it looked like IS-propaganda, although everyone else just thought it looked like the number ’12’ from outside,” Ericsson told Swedish media. The couple removed the balloons, with the birthday girl saying that “extremism should always be taken seriously.” “I laughed about it and they showed me a photo that they had taken where from their perspective, it did almost look like the letters IS,” Akesson said. “I’m so surprised at all the attention,” Ericsson added. “I will never forget my 21st birthday.” \[[_UPI_](http://www.upi.com/Odd%5FNews/2015/02/24/Police-confuse-21-birthday-balloons-for-Islamic-State-initials/3431424801351/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3721642/islamic-state-sweden-police-21-birthday-balloons-isis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3721642/islamic-state-sweden-police-21-birthday-balloons-isis/"},"headline":"Swedish Police Raid Apartment After Mistaking 21st Birthday Party Balloons for ISIS Initials","datePublished":"2015-02-25T09:34:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:17:11.052Z","description":"\"Extremism should always be taken seriously\"","url":"https://time.com/3721642/islamic-state-sweden-police-21-birthday-balloons-isis/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bizarre","ISIS","Birthday","sweden","ISIL","Islamic State"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sabrina Toppa","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3721642/islamic-state-sweden-police-21-birthday-balloons-isis/","name":"Swedish Police Raid Apartment After Mistaking 21st Birthday Party Balloons for ISIS Initials"}}]}] ```