Thread: Police fear losing control of Stockholm after fourth night of riots leaves restaurant

Police fear losing control of Stockholm after fourth night of riots leaves restaurants gutted and ruins smoking

By Sara Malm
PUBLISHED: 08:50 EST, 23 May 2013 | UPDATED: 11:40 EST, 23 May 2013
dailymail.co.uk

*Another night of violence shook Stockholm in early hours of Thursday
*Cars were torched in at least 15 suburbs in the Swedish capital
*Riot mobs attacked police and emergency services with bricks and rocks
*Violence began on Sunday night and has spread across to several suburbs

Huge swathes of Stockholm were in ruins today after a fourth night of rioting left hundreds of cars ablaze and saw mobs attacking police with bricks.

The violence, which began in the immigrant enclave of Husby on Sunday night after police shot an elderly man who threatened them with a machete, has now spread to 15 suburbs.

It has morphed into a protest by largely immigrant demonstrators about underlying racism in Swedish society - and an apparent lack of employment opportunities.

Last night, officers battled desperately to keep the city under control as a police station was set alight and fire services were kept from a major blaze by an angry stone-throwing mob.


Stockholm burning: A car is set ablaze in a suburb north of the Swedish capital last night


Out of control: Vehicles were set on fire in at least 15 suburbs in Stockholm during yet another night of violence


Chaos: Police have been under attack by large mobs, pelting them and fire services with bricks and heavy rocks, preventing them from putting out fires across the city's fringes

'The local families I met yesterday are extremely angry and sad and they hope those responsible get harsh sentences,' Adam Khoder, a member of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s Moderate Party at Rinkeby-Kista council, which governs Husby, said.

In Skogås, south of Stockholm, emergency services were kept from a fire in a restaurant when a mob of youths pelted the fire engines with rocks.

Police had to be called to 'chase away' the violent gang before work could begin to control the flames.

In nearby Rågsved, yobs set fire to the police station - the second police station to come under attack in two days.

In Husby, where the violence started earlier this week, police found themselves under attack by youths throwing bricks and large stones.

By 2am this morning, Stockholm’s Fire Services had dealt with 75-80 incidents, a majority of which were related to the riots.


As well as setting cars ablaze, rioters also attacked a police station and a school and nursery


The unrest appears to have been sparked after police shot and killed a man wielding a machete on Sunday

The riots have seen gangs, a majority of which have been made up of teenage boys, attack schools, nurseries and shops, breaking windows and setting buildings ablaze.

'Some are 12,13 years old, some are teens, and tonight we’ve seen some adult criminals among them,’ Diana Sundin, spokesperson for Stockholm Police, said on Wednesday morning.

‘We have seen violent riots, car fires, and an incredibly hateful mood. It is totally unacceptable.

'There has been a huge amount of stones thrown, everything from bricks to rocks weighing five, six kilos (13lbs),’ she told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

Twelve youths aged 15 to 19 have been arrested following the riots, with the first detention this afternoon.

One 18-year-old man is being held under suspicion of arson. He has several convictions including robbery, theft and assault, three of which were for assaulting an officer.


The violence has sparked debate in the country on the effect of the government's social policies


Many believe the riots are a result of anger at high unemployment and fewer opportunities among immigrants


A number of cars in the Stockholm suburb of Husby, which has a high immigrant population

The disorder has intensified despite Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt taking a stand against the riots saying Sweden will not be controlled by 'hooligans'.

'It is important to remember, burning your neighbour's car is not an example of freedom of expression, it is hooliganism,' Fredrik Reinfeldt said yesterday.

'It is important to prove that we are not controlled by those committing violent acts.

'We have groups of young men who believe that you can and should use violence to change society. Let us be clear. This is not okay. We cannot be governed by violence.'

The unrest appears to have been sparked by the police killing of a 69-year-old man wielding a machete in the suburb of Husby on Sunday, which prompted accusations of police brutality.

It has provoked fierce debate in the country, which prides itself on a reputation for social justice, on the government's economic policies.

Critics say immigrant ghettos have been created where unemployment is high and there are few opportunities for residents.

Right-wing anti-immigrant party, the Sweden Democrats, has risen to third in polls ahead of a general election due next year, reflecting unease about immigrants among many voters.

After decades of practising the 'Swedish model' of generous welfare benefits, the country has been reducing the role of the state since the 1990s, spurring the fastest growth in inequality of any advanced OECD economy.

While average living standards are still among the highest in Europe, governments have failed to substantially reduce long-term youth unemployment and poverty, which have affected immigrant communities worst.

Some 15 per cent of the population is foreign-born, the highest proportion in the Nordic region.

Unemployment among those born outside Sweden stands at 16 per cent, compared with just six per cent for native Swedes, according to OECD data.

Among 44 industrialised countries, Sweden ranked fourth in the absolute number of asylum seekers, and second relative to its population, according to U.N. figures.

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‘They don’t want to integrate’: Fifth night of youth rioting rocks Stockholm

May 24, 2013 13:09



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Youth gang riots in the Swedish capital Stockholm have entered fifth straight night. Hundreds of mostly immigrant teenagers tore through the suburbs, smashing windows and burning cars in the country’s worst outbreak of violence in years.

At least six vehicles were torched throughout the city late on Thursday while the police called for reinforcements from other Swedish cities bracing for further unrest.

Firefighters were putting out flames that engulfed several cars and a school in immigrant-dominated areas of Stockholm.



Firemen extinguish a burning car parked in an indoor garage in the Stockholm suburb of Tureberg after youths rioted in several different suburbs for a fourth consecutive night on May 24, 2013 (AFP Photo / Jonathan Nackstrand)

The night before, the fire brigades were called to some 90 different blazes. On the fourth night of violence, youths torched over 30 cars in 15 neighborhoods along with a restaurant in Skogas, south of Stockholm. Three law enforcement officers were injured, police spokesperson Kjell Lindgren reported.
Stockholm firefighters were busy throughout the night, saying they had “never before seen so many fires raging at the same time.” Some 90 blazes were reported in total, most of them reportedly caused by the rioters. Still, the fourth night of violence was relatively quiet compared to the previous three, RT's Peter Oliver reported from Stockholm.
Leaders of immigrant communities were out on the streets in a bid to stop young people from rioting. Despite their efforts, as soon as the night fell, groups of arsonists took to the streets to set cars on fire. RT's Peter Oliver witnessed rioters throwing stones at police and journalists alike.

RT's Peter Oliver. Screenshot from RT video.

Civil disorder in Stockholm started on Sunday, when police shot and killed a 69-old-man in his apartment after he confronted officers with a machete; the unrest has since continued throughout week.
Community leaders insist that a main reason for the violence is the high rate of unemployment in immigrant communities, particularly in the suburb of Husby near central Stockholm, one of the worst affected by the nighttime violence, Peter Oliver reported.

Although Sweden’s unemployment rate is below the EU average, joblessness among those under 25 has reached nearly 25 percent. The RT crew in Stockholm noted that a majority of those taking part in the violence are young.
“In Sweden you’ve got welfare, access to the educational system – up to university level, you got access to public transport, libraries, healthcare – to everything. And still they feel that they [immigrants] need to riot through stones and Molotov cocktails. It’s ridiculous and a bad excuse,” Swedish Democrats MP Kent Ekeroth told RT.
“Police can put down these riots in five minutes – if the politicians were to allow them,” Ekeroth added.

Parents of the rampaging teenagers and community religious leaders are now spending sleepless nights on the street in an effort to prevent their children from wreaking havoc.
Firemen extinguish a burning car in Kista after youths rioted in few differant suburbs around Stockholm on May 21, 2013.(AFP Photo / Jonathan Nackstrand)

Meanwhile, the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt blamed the violence on “hooligans” and said they did not represent the majority in the rioting neighborhoods.

“I think it’s dangerous to draw a picture of Sweden with a capital separated from its suburbs. I don’t think that’s true. I think the dividing line runs straight through Husby, with a majority population and then a small group of troublemakers,”Reinfeldt said.

But the Husby youth taking part in riots told Reuters they are indeed divided from the rest of Stockholm, struggling to find a full-time job with their Husby address. Most of the interviewed rioters were reportedly unemployed.

The claims of social exclusion in immigrant-dominated suburbs have been partly conceded by Sweden’s Integration Minister Erik Ullenhag, who said the ministry is aware of “discrimination in these areas.” But the riots “don’t improve the image of these areas, where there is a lot of positive stuff going on,”he added.A car set on fire burns, following riots

For years, Sweden – one of Europe’s most tranquil countries, famous for its attractive immigration policies and generous welfare system – has been accepting an influx of immigrants, which now make up about 15 per cent of its population. These migrants have failed to integrate into Swedish society, and are only in the country to enjoy the country’s social benefits system, Swedish journalist Ingrid Carlqvist told RT.

“The problem is not from the Swedish government or from the Swedish people,” the editor in chief of Dispatch International said. “The last 20 years or so, we have seen so many immigrants coming to Sweden that really don’t like Sweden. They do not want to integrate, they do not want to live in [Swedish] society: Working, paying taxes and so on.”

“The people come here now because they know that Sweden will give them money for nothing. They don’t have to work, they don’t have to pay taxes – they can just stay here and get a lot of money. That is really a problem,” Carlqvist added.

“The police could do so much, [instead] they have told the public that they mean to do as little as possible. But they could go there and use water cannons, they could not let people out onto the streets at night. There are so many things they could do within the law – but they don’t do it,” she said.

Young Muslims who enjoy tolerance, social institutions and welfare while living in Sweden nevertheless refuse to integrate into the West, Gerolf Annemans told RT. Annemans is the parliamentary leader of Vlaams Belang (‘Flemish Interest’), a Belgian far-right nationalist political party.

“They [Muslim youths] have always sought excuse to show that they are not agreeing with the basic values of Western society,” Annemans said, pointing to the recent cases of the Boston Marathon bombing in the US and yesterday’s beheading of a British soldier in the UK.

“It’s always the same problem. There is a massive refusal by Muslim youngsters of the basics of Western society... and they take any excuse whatsoever to show that with violence – that is where the problem is,” he said.

As rioting continues to rip through Stockholm, some claim the violence has clearly been orchestrated for ulterior motives, Lars Hedegaard, Editor-in-Chief of Swedish newspaper Dispatch International said to RT.
“Some people would like to gain recognition as stakeholder in society. In other words, there are people who would like to be in a negotiating position… that they can make things happen and go away. That they have power in local communities and should be reckoned with,” he explained.

“These riots in the country that are spreading and continuing for a long time that the [multiculturalism] success was a fiction, they never succeeded,” Hedegaard said.

http://rt.com/news/stockholm-violenc...eak-fires-671/

Sweden will have to lower its issuing of asylum and start preventng asylum seekers from entering that country, or they will face long term conflict. I people, especially young men, can't get work, they tend to commit crimes. IMO the only long term solution is to match immigration with employment possibilities.

Multiculturalisn is a farce. If immigrants don't want to become like other citizens, it's foolish to let them in at all.