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The entrance to Rinkeby’s main square: Somali Muslims go to the mosque to pray.
Guido Fieldsforeign editor
For decades, Sweden had what is probably the most liberal immigration policy in Europe. Critical discussions were refused: anyone who pointed out the problem was ostracized and quickly placed in the right corner.
Between 1965 and 1974, a million homes were built for immigrants on the initiative of the Social Democrats. The program was well intentioned, but the integration failed. The faceless districts became foreigner ghettos with – often Muslim – parallel societies.
In no other European country is the murder rate as high as here. Especially in the suburbs of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, gangs and Islamists are causing fear and terror. Over the holidays and the turn of the year alone, there were shootings in the Stockholm region that left three dead and several injured.
From the Stockholm Police New Year’s Report:
25 December: Shooting in Rinkeby – one dead
December 28: Murder attempt in Gubbangen – no injuries
December 31: Shooting in Vällingby – one dead, two wounded
January 4: Shooting in Jordbro – one dead, one injured
About all days: Several bomb attacks, no injuries
Rinkeby with 20,000 and Vällingby with 9,000 inhabitants are considered the places with the most crime in the Stockholm region. There are always shootings and other aggressions in which bystanders – including children – are injured or even killed. Cars are also set on fire in droves.
Somalis dominate the main square
On January 6th, a national holiday, Blick visited both of these hotspots and tried to talk to immigrant youth. It’s not easy – it’s even dangerous: Stones are repeatedly thrown at journalists or punches are thrown at them.
The looks on the architecturally featureless, around 100-meter-long main square in Rinkeby are suspicious. Here on Friday almost exclusively Muslims from Africa are staying, who go to the mosque to pray in the occasional snowstorm and minus five degrees. Nobody allows them to be photographed.
A Middle Eastern immigrant who has lived in Rinkeby for 33 years says: “Back then there were Swedes, Turks, Finns and Iranians. Today, around 80 percent are Somalis.”
Shot in front of the mother’s house
Extinguished candles lie in the snow about 200 meters from the main square. Here, on Christmas Day, the rapper Mehdi († 27), known as “Dumme”, was killed – in front of the block of flats where his mother lives. It cannot be ruled out that he had been lured into a trap. Abdi* (17), a Somali, says to Blick: “Drugs should be legalized in both Sweden and Holland. Then there wouldn’t be so much crime.”
The homicide in Vällingby on New Year’s Eve happened in front of McDonald’s. It is the meeting place for young people, some of whom wear bulletproof and stab-proof vests under their jackets when they go outside. Here, too, a young man was shot and two young colleagues were injured. Candles are burning on the ground, and many passers-by pause for a moment.
High youth unemployment
“Fresh” (22), a Swede with African roots, hangs out with his colleagues nearby. He is unemployed because he has no training and there are no jobs anyway. He is financed by his family. “I would like to work,” he asserts and criticizes the fact that the youth centers are making more savings. “I miss the fact that there aren’t more activities on offer because I often don’t know what to do.”
Rami (28) from Afghanistan, in whose shop Fresh is a regular customer, repeatedly catches dealers: “If I see one, I throw him out and ban him from the shop.” And he adds: “Unfortunately, today it’s easier to deal than to get a job.”
Youth unemployment is indeed high. In autumn 2022, Sweden was in fourth place in Europe with a value of almost 23.4 percent – just behind Spain (32.3), Greece (27.3) and Italy (23.9). In Switzerland it was 8.6 percent.
Youth worker hopes for less paperwork
Since the New Year’s Eve murder, the police have massively increased their presence in Vällingby. At times there are six patrol vehicles parked in front of the post in the small town. The Stockholm social service has also opened its doors longer at the Tegelhögen leisure center. Its regional supervisor Fredrik Skoglund (46) says to Blick: “Unfortunately, such terrible shootings and explosions are part of everyday life.” It is mostly about the actions of two gangs fighting each other.
One possible solution would be to increase social work and work more with children, says Skoglund. He is therefore waiting for the announced revision of the social service law, which provides for more front work and less paperwork.
Warm policewomen
On the upper floor of the youth club, several young people are playing a rap. “Here is a safe place,” says Ahmed* (17) from Tanzania. He recently moved to the island of Gotland because his mother feared for safety.
The two police officers Izabella (33) and Ada (39) also pay a visit to the rap studio. Their demeanor is remarkably kind: they hug the young African amateur rappers and even help with a technical problem. Is there enough distance? “We are members of the regional police and are looking for contact. They should not only know us as officials, but also as people », they justify their cordiality.
Over 60 dead in shootings in 2022
The homicides over the turn of the year are only a small part of the Swedish crime statistics. Last year, more than 60 people were killed and more than 100 injured in shootings across the country. In the same period, four people were killed in neighboring Denmark and Norway, and two in Finland.
The police have defined around 60 “risk areas” nationwide, in which rescue services can often only work under police protection because they are attacked themselves in an emergency. Rinkeby and Vällingby are among these hotspots.
The new bourgeois government, which is being influenced by the massively strengthened right-wing Sweden Democrats, has declared war on crime and raised the barriers to immigration. The new conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (59) admitted in his Christmas speech: “Sweden is in a very serious situation.”