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Racist groups threaten migrant children in Sweden rampage
Reuters
January 31, 2016, 3:08 pm
A gang of masked, black-clad men rampaged through the streets of Stockholm, Sweden, on Friday night after handing out leaflets threatening to attack migrant street youths, "to make a statement", with police saying on Saturday two arrests had been made.
The incident highlights the growing tensions over immigration in Sweden, a country of 10 million which received 163,000 asylum seekers last year, and comes days after a 22-year old female worker was stabbed to death in a centre for unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors in southwestern Sweden.
Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said the incident on Friday as well as an anti-immigrant demonstration in Stockholm on Saturday, which local media said later resulted in some scuffles with counter-demonstrators, were a worrying development.
"Racist groups are spreading hate and violence in our streets. This has to be met with force," Ygeman said in a statement.
Police said three arrests were made on Saturday for assault but declined to confirm media reports that all three were Polish citizens.
The police also said one man had been arrested on Friday night for punching a plain clothes officer in the face and another for carrying a brass knuckleduster, but the extent of assaults on immigrants was not clear.
Swedish dailies said that according to witnesses a number of people had been attacked on Friday by the gang of men, who were thought to belong to "firms" of hooligans associated with local soccer teams.
The leaflets handed out on Friday, which were confirmed by police as being the same as were posted on Swedish social media, said, "When Swedish streets are no longer safe for ordinary Swedes it is our DUTY to fix the problem ... Today, therefore, 200 Swedish men gathered to make a statement against the North African 'street children' who are ranging around the capital's central station.
"The police have amply shown that it lacks the means to rein them in and we now see no alternative than for us to mete out the punishment they deserve."
A poll last week showed support for Sweden's ruling centre-left Social Democrats hit its lowest level in nearly 50 years, mainly because of a sense the government has been overwhelmed by the influx of asylum seekers.
In a move to boost confidence, the Swedish government said this week the country was likely to deport between 60,000 and 80,000 of last year's asylum seekers. However, that number is similar in percentage terms to rejections of asylum applications in previous years when the numbers were much smaller.
More than 35,000 unaccompanied minors sought asylum in Sweden last year, roughly half of them registered as 16 or 17 years old. More than 23,000 unaccompanied minors were from Afghanistan.
This week, the country's national police chief asked the government for more money and more officers in the wake of the migrant crisis.
‘Anti-facist’ demonstrators gather in central Stockholm following reports of suspected neo-Nazi groups calling for attacks on refugees. Photo: AP
Dozens of masked men believed to belong to neo-Nazi gangs gathered in Stockholm and handed out leaflets calling for attacks against young migrants, Swedish police said on Saturday, amid rising tensions over the country’s refugee influx.
Police had beefed up their presence in the city centre, deploying anti-riot and helicopter units after learning that extremists were planning “aggression on unaccompanied migrant minors” in the city late on Friday.
“I was passing by and saw a masked group dressed in black ... start hitting foreigners.” the Aftonbladet daily quoted one witness as saying.
Police spokesman Towe Hagg said by midday police had not received any complaints of assaults but one 46-year-old man was arrested after striking a plainclothes officer.
Swedish Interior Minister Anders Ygeman condemned the “racist groups which threaten and spread hate in the public space”, adding that “one must respond strongly”.
“This is a disturbing trend in society,” Ygeman said in a commentary published by news agency TT.
Three other people were briefly detained for public order disturbances and one more faces charges for carrying a knife.
Early on Friday evening, as many as 100 people, their faces covered, went to Sergels Torg pedestrian square, a popular meeting point for young people, including migrant youths.
Stockholm Police talk to participants of a movement calling itself ‘The People's Demonstration’ which held a meeting at Norrmalmstorg Square in Stockholm. Photo: AP
Aftonbladet quoted witnesses as saying the masked group targeted “people of foreign appearance” and handed out leaflets urging the infliction of “deserved punishment on children of the North African street”.
The website Nordfront, an online forum for the neo-Nazi SMR movement, said its “sources” had revealed that around “100 hooligans” from the AIK and Djurgarden football clubs gathered on Friday to “sort out the criminals coming in from North Africa”.
After initially taking a generous stance on migration – the country of 9.8 million is among the European Union states with the highest proportion of refugees per capita – Sweden has in recent days said it expects to expel tens of thousands of people over several years as it struggles to cope with the influx.
Booed by dozens of “anti-fascist” activists, some 200 people gathered in Stockholm on Saturday to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, as well as the acceleration of migrant deportations.
The number of new migrants entering the country has plunged since Stockholm on January 4 introduced systematic photo ID checks on train, bus and ferry passengers coming in via Denmark.
The toughening of policy comes against a backdrop of rising concern over conditions in the country’s overcrowded asylum facilities.
Officials also called for greater security after an employee at a refugee centre for unaccompanied youths was fatally stabbed earlier this week.
