Rioting in Sweden follows drug arrest
STOCKHOLM — Residents in a northwestern suburb of Stockholm predominantly inhabited by immigrants clashed with police officers Monday, two days after President Donald Trump offered a critique of Sweden’s migration policies.
About 20 to 30 masked men threw stones and other objects at police officers in the suburb, Rinkeby, after police arrested a man on accusations of dealing drugs. A police officer fired a warning shot, but the disturbances continued for several more hours, stretching into Tuesday morning. A photojournalist was injured in the disturbances.
The episode drew scrutiny worldwide because of Trump’s assertions — based on a Fox News segment — that Sweden had experienced a surge in crime and violence as a result of taking in large numbers of refugees.
In 2015, when the influx of refugees and migrants to Europe from Africa, the Middle East and Asia was highest, Sweden took in the greatest number per capita, with a record 163,000 asylum applications. By and large, integration has been a success story there, save for incidents like Monday night’s, which have taken place in highly segregated neighborhoods.
The newspaper Dagens Nyheter analyzed crime statistics between October 2015 and January 2016 and came to the conclusion that refugees were responsible for only 1 percent of all crime. That has done little to assuage the perception, even among Swedes, that foreigners are culpable for the crime that does happen.
Trump clarified on Twitter that he drew his claim of immigrant violence in Sweden — made at a campaign speech in Melbourne, Fla. — from a Fox News segment in which two Swedish police officers were interviewed. The segment was part of Tucker Carlson Tonight and featured filmmaker Ami Horowitz, who was introduced as someone who had documented an “incredible surge of refugee violence” in Sweden.
The two Swedish police officers whose interview provided the basis for the report spoke out Monday and claimed their testimony had been taken out of context. One of them, Anders Goranzon, said the interview had been about areas with high crime rates, and “there wasn’t any focus on migration or immigration.”
“We don’t stand behind it. It shocked us. He has edited the answers,” said Goranzon. “We were answering completely different questions in the interview. This is bad journalism.”
Horowitz defended his work to The Guardian, saying that he was “pretty sure” he told the officers what the segment was going to be about and implying that the officer’s statement came under pressure from his superiors.
Rinkeby, an area of about 16,000 people, is overwhelmingly populated by residents with immigrant backgrounds — in particular, Somalis and Arabs — and has been the site of previous clashes between residents and the police.
Some media outlets in the United States and elsewhere have insisted that Sweden is covering up evidence of migrantrelated crimes — a claim officials in the Scandinavian nation, which has a long humanitarian tradition, have rejected.
Lars Bystrom, a police spokesman, said police were summoned at 8: 18 p. m. Stockholm time on Monday to the transit station in Rinkeby, about 7.2 miles northwest of Stockholm’s City Hall, after officers made a drug- related arrest and then were set upon by residents.
A police officer fired a live round of ammunition as a warning shot.
“No one was hit, but it had the intended effect of clearing the scene so that police could make an arrest,” Bystrom said.
The disturbances did not end; the rioting intensified, with up to 70 people throwing stones and objects, before police finally got the situation under control around 12: 15 a. m., he said.
Asked whether there was enough police presence in Rinkeby, Bystrom cited the district police chief, Niklas Andersson, in describing police resources in the area as more plentiful than ever. But Bystrom also said officials would continue to bolster security.
Patrik Derk, the district director for Rinkeby- Kista, the northernmost of the boroughs that make up Stockholm, said it would be a mistake to see proof of Trump’s claims in the rioting.
“This type of problem exists in most countries, even in the USA,” he said in a phone interview. “And we are managing these problems and will succeed with this. They’re complex problems.”