Almqvist stated that the reason for the move was Hungary's "liberal social conservatism and nationalism" and the absence of "the Swedish groove of gender and multiculturalism.

During this years the membership and activity rise significantly as a result of a more activist approach, which began in the autumn of 2008 when it carried out a town square tour against "anti-Swedishness" during which Almqvist spoke and said that there was a structural hostility against Swedes that was hidden by "the establishment".

[9] Almqvist was highlighted in April 2009 for a video from a conference trip with the youth league, where he and William Petzäll, then vice chairman of the youth league, sang and listened to songs from so-called white power music.

[10] In June 2010, Almqvist was involved in an altercation with a Swedish comedian Soran Ismail known as the "Iron Bar Scandal" in which he and several other leading SD politicians had filmed themselves calling people "Babbe" (derogatory insult meaning foreigner), "whore", brandishing iron poles and finally leaving the scene after talking to arriving policemen and chortling about how easy it is to "suck up" to the police.

[12] SD has criticized Expressen for "cuttings and pastings" in the footage and that they do not want to show all the filmed material, which contrasts diametrically with the proven facts that SD had in fact manipulated the film and removed all traces of their actions.