[2] According to scholar Samuel Merrill, the photograph became popular for three reasons: it captures what Henri Cartier-Bresson called the "decisive moment" of an action or composition, it anticipates and insinuates rather than explicitly demonstrates violence, and it depicts what seems to be a vulnerable older woman confronting a young archetypal Neo-Nazi skinhead.
As approved by the authorities, the rally had been planned to be held shortly after the end of a public speech delivered by the Left Party-Communists leader Lars Werner in the centre of Växjö, and skirmishes between left-wing supporters and Neo-Nazis began even before the start of the far-right demonstration.
[3] Another photograph taken by Runesson during the event shows the 10 Neo-Nazis being chased, pelted with eggs and violently confronted by a crowd made up of hundreds of attendants of the left-wing rally joined by local Växjö residents.
[15] Although she was only 38 years old at the time of the event, Danielsson came to be seen in the public opinion as a personification of the tant ('old lady'), which in Swedish collective imagery symbolizes "mundane and unstated wisdom, civil courage and moral alignment".
[16] The man hit by Danielsson was identified as Seppo Seluska, a militant from the Nordic Realm Party later convicted for the torture and murder of a gay Jew.
[20][22][23] In September 2015, Swedish hotel entrepreneur Lasse Diding announced he had bought the statue and intended to donate it to Varberg municipality.