Hackers topple Swedish government website

Demonstrations against Pirate Bay raid hit the web

Swedish police have launched an investigation into an attack that brought down the country's official government website on Sunday. 

The attack came hot on the heels of a similar incident that took the Swedish national police website offline on Thursday.

Both attacks are thought to be connected to a raid on the Pirate Bay website, one of the world's largest BitTorrent file-sharing sites, in which Swedish police confiscated servers. 

A spokesman for the Swedish Emergency Management Agency confirmed that Sunday's attack would be investigated to determine whether any crime had been committed.

The Agency has also warned other government services and local authorities to ensure that their websites are prepared for an attack.

The action against Pirate Bay came despite the fact that the site did not directly host any copyrighted material, but only offered files that allowed BitTorrent peer-to-peer software to find downloads.

A demonstration was held in Stockholm on Saturday to protest the raid, and the Pirate Bay website is already back on its feet.