Stockholm violence exposes grievances against the police
Husby, the northern suburb of Sweden’s capital where rioting sparked a week of violence across the city, is nursing a deep grievance against the police.
On Sunday, when the clashes began, two friends, Waddi, 24, and Anders, 19, set out to confront their tormentors.
“We grew up here together, we live well together, but the police spoil it,” said Waddi, a Swede whose parents are from Iraq. “They mess with us every day.”
The police know all the young men well, he said, and harass them constantly, demanding his licence when he is driving home from his job at Ikea and searching him for drugs that he does not use. “But it’s worse for him,” he adds, pointing to his blonde, blue-eyed Swedish friend.
“They say I have betrayed my country by having black friends,” said Anders, a student. “They stop me all the time. But last Sunday we chased them, they were scared.”
That day, the police came to Husby with dogs and riot batons, and screamed racist abuse at the locals, according to witnesses. Since “fighting the police” on Sunday, the two friends have stayed away from trouble.
Abdi, 20, a Swede of Somali origin, shared their anger. “We are showing them who is boss in this neighbourhood,” he said. “I have a future, but if I didn’t I would be rioting.”
A gym instructor, Abdi was bitter that, though born in Sweden, he was not treated as Swedish. He was beaten up by police “for no good reason” three years ago when leaving the Husby metro station, he claimed. He said he had not taken part in any of the rioting, but bore the psychological scars of that beating. “Tonight I hope the cops have a hard time,” he said.
Early on Thursday morning, rioters set fire to a school and a truck in central Husby, smashing windows and stoning police. Eight teenagers were arrested. The riots have prompted soul-searching in Sweden about the country’s model of integration.
The first explanation that local people gave for the violence was the shooting dead by police earlier this month of a 69-year-old man inside his third-floor apartment in a block a short distance from Husby’s town centre. But everyone agreed tension has been growing for a long time.
“It’s the police brutality,” said Bilal, a charity worker who has been patrolling the streets to calm the mood.
“It’s been building up for years,” the 38-year old Swede of Tunisian parentage said. “They have sniffer dogs at the metro stations searching for marijuana.” He also blamed the government for putting immigrants together in “these ghettos like Husby”.
There was also a broader grievance about racism in Swedish society. Yunis, 43, from Yemen, kept his teenage son at home this week. He has high hopes for the star pupil but fears that racism would make it hard for him to find work. “Maybe I should change his name – they see Ali or Abdul or whatever and that’s it, suddenly there’s no job.”
Jamil, a refugee from Baghdad, said: “We have been ignored for many years, we pay our taxes but we see no improvements.” But he said he was fiercely loyal to Husby and so strongly opposed to the rioters that he wanted to “give them a really good thrashing”.
“There are many great things about Husby. We need to be talking to the politicians, but when cars and buildings are burning, no one can talk.”
“It is a war with the police,” said a 17-year-old Brazilian youth, walking with a group of Egyptian and Somali friends. He had not been involved in the unrest, but he knew people who had. “It’s good!”
Publié par des larbins de la City de Londres hantée par le souvenir des émeutes de Tottenham (David Crouch, Financial Times, 23 mai 2013)
Cinquième nuit d’incidents en banlieue de Stockholm
Au moins neuf véhicules ont été la proie des flammes tandis que deux écoles et un commissariat de police connaissaient des départs d’incendie tôt vendredi lors de la cinquième nuit consécutive d’incidents dans la banlieue pauvre de Stockholm à forte population étrangère.
Huit personnes ont été appréhendées au cours de ces incidents, mais aucun blessé n’a été dénombré, a indiqué vendredi matin la police suédoise à l’agence TT.
À Kista dans la banlieue pauvre de Stockholm, une école a été incendiée dans la nuit de jeudi à vendredi.
Dans la banlieue de Rinkeby, théâtre de nombreux incidents depuis le début de la semaine, six voitures ont brûlé, dont cinq entièrement, selon un photographe de l’AFP sur place.
Trois autres véhicules ont été incendiés à Norsborg tandis que l’incendie d’un commissariat de police à Aelvsjoe était rapidement maîtrisé.
Entre 300 et 500 personnes étaient rassemblées autour des véhicules en flammes, a déclaré la police suédoise à TT.
Selon les pompiers, deux écoles, la première à Tensta et la deuxième à Kista, près de Husby, d’où les troubles sont partis, ont également été incendiées, mais les sinistres rapidement circonscrits.
Des policiers ont été caillassés, à Sodertaelje (sud de Stockholm), alors qu’ils intervenaient après avoir été informés de la présence de voitures incendiées.
La nuit précédente, les pompiers avaient indiqué avoir été appelé sur quelque 90 feux différents.
(…) De graves incidents comparables à ceux se déroulant actuellement avaient déjà eu lieu en 2010 à Rinkeby et en 2008 à Malmoe (sud) où un centre culturel islamique avait été fermé.
Publié par des larbins du savoir-faire français hanté par le souvenir des émeutes de 2005 (Agence Faut Payer, 24 mai 2013)