Trump remarks baffle Sweden

Migrants blamed for mystery atrocity

LONDON: Swedes reacted with confusion, anger and ridicule on Sunday to a vague remark by US President Donald Trump that suggested that something terrible had occurred in their country.

During a campaign-style rally in Florida, Mr Trump issued a sharp if discursive attack on refugee policies in Europe, ticking off a list of places that have been hit by terrorists.

“You look at what’s happening,” he told his supporters. “We’ve got to keep our country safe. You look at what’s happening in Germany, you look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this?”

Not the Swedes.

Nothing particularly nefarious happened in Sweden, and Swedes were left baffled.

“Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound,” Carl Bildt, a former prime minister and foreign minister, wrote on Twitter.

As the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet noted, Twitter users were quick to ridicule Mr Trump’s remark, with joking references to the Swedish Chef, the Muppets character; Swedish meatballs; and Ikea, the furniture giant.

Mr Trump did not state, per se, that a terrorist attack had taken place in Sweden. But the context of his remarks — he mentioned Sweden right after he chastised Germany, a destination for refugees and asylum seekers fleeing war and deprivation — suggested that he thought it might have.

“Sweden,” he said. “They took in large numbers. They’re having problems like they never thought possible.”

He then invoked the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris in 2015 and in Brussels and Nice, France, last year, to make an argument for tightening scrutiny of travellers and asylum seekers. “We’ve allowed thousands and thousands of people into our country, and there was no way to vet those people,” he said. “There was no documentation. There was no nothing. So we’re going to keep our country safe.”

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokeswoman, tried to clarify the president’s remarks, saying Mr Trump did not mean to suggest that a particular attack had happened the night before, but rather was talking about crime in general in Sweden.

On Sunday, Mr Trump offered his own clarification, writing on Twitter: “My statement as to what’s happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden.”

In that story, Fox News correspondent Tucker Carlson interviewed Ami Horowitz, a filmmaker who asserts that migrants in Sweden have been associated with a crime wave.

“They oftentimes try to cover up some of these crimes,” Mr Horowitz said, arguing that those who try to tell the truth about the situation are shouted down as racists and xenophobes.

Mr Horowitz said: “Sweden had its first terrorist Islamic attack not that long ago, so they’re now getting a taste of what we’ve been seeing across Europe already.”

It was not clear what he was referring to. In 2010, a suicide bomber struck central Stockholm, injuring two people.

The bomber, Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, 28, was an Iraqi-born Swede who had developed an affinity for al-Qaeda. But that attack occurred long before the current wave of migrants.

Sweden has a long history of welcoming refugees — Jews, Iranians, Eritreans, Somalis, Kurds and people from the former Yugoslavia, among others — but even some of the most tolerant and idealistic Swedes have raised questions about whether the country can absorb so many newcomers so quickly.

Henrik Selin, a political scientist and deputy director of the Swedish Institute, a state agency dedicated to promoting Sweden globally, said he was puzzled by Mr Trump’s remarks.

“I do not have a clue what he was referring to,” he said in a telephone interview. “Obviously, this could be connected to the fact that there has been a lot of negative reporting about Sweden, since Sweden has taken in a lot of refugees.”

As for the cover-up alleged by Horowitz, Mr Selin said: “That kind of claim has been in the political debate for 15 years now. But nobody has been able to prove there is a coverup. On the contrary, the fact is that crime rates are going down.”

He added: “Swedish authorities have nothing to gain from hiding the truth. We are quite keen to ensure that the debate and the story about our country is fact-based and nuanced. We are more than happy to talk about the challenges our country faces as well as the things that are going well.”

Asked about Mr Trump’s comment, Anna Kinberg Batra, leader of the opposition Moderate Party, said in a statement: “President Trump has to answer himself for his statements, why he makes them and based on what facts.”