Insight: Sweden's far-right eyes election gains as gang violence rises

[webfact]

Insight: Sweden's far-right eyes election gains as gang violence rises

By Simon Johnson and Johan Ahlander

 

FILE PHOTO: Police officers stand guard at a cordoned area after a masked man attacked people with a sword at a school in Trollhattan, western Sweden October 22, 2015. REUTERS/Bjorn Larsson Rosvall/TT News Agency/File Photo

 

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A surge in gang violence has stirred anti-immigration sentiment before an election in Sweden, putting a far-right party on course for big gains in one of Europe's most liberal countries.

 

Dozens of people have been killed in the past two years in attacks in the capital Stockholm and other big cities by gangs that are mostly from run-down suburbs dominated by immigrants.

 

In the latest bloodshed, three men were shot dead and three were wounded outside an internet cafe in the city of Malmo on June 18. A fourth man was shot dead days later and another man survived because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

 

With public calls growing for tougher policies on crime and immigration, support has risen for the Sweden Democrats, a party with neo-Nazi roots that wants to freeze immigration and to hold a referendum on Sweden's membership of the European Union.

 

Their worried mainstream rivals have started moving to the right on crime and immigration to try to counter the Sweden Democrats' threat in the Sept. 9 election. But so far, they are playing into the hands of the far-right.

 

"Right now they (mainstream parties) are competing over who can set out the most restrictive policies," said Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lovin, whose Green Party is part of a minority government led by the Social Democratic Party.

 

"It clearly benefits the Sweden Democrats."

 

Opinion polls put the Sweden Democrats on about 20 percent support, up from the 13 percent of votes they secured in the 2014 election and the 5.7 percent which saw them enter parliament for the first time in 2010.

 

The Sweden Democrats' rise on the back of anti-immigration sentiment mirrors gains for right-wing, populist and anti-establishment parties in other European countries such as Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and Austria.

 

Immigration has risen back up the political agenda since far-right parties entered coalition governments in Austria and Italy, and will be discussed at a summit in Brussels this week.

 

Though the Sweden Democrats are unlikely to win power, the growing popularity for a party opposed to the EU is a concern for Brussels although Swedes broadly support EU membership, polls show.

 

BACKLASH

Five years ago, Sweden saw itself as a "humanitarian superpower" that generously welcomed migrants, many of them fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa.

 

But as in Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has been cracking under pressure from her coalition partners to tighten immigration curbs, Sweden's government now faces a backlash over the scale of immigration.

 

About 400,000 people have sought asylum in the wealthy Scandinavian country of 10 million since 2012, and it took in 163,000 asylum seekers in 2015 alone. Some voters fear schools, hospitals and welfare services cannot cope, and Sweden's reputation for tolerance and social equality is threatened.

 

The Sweden Democrats still trail the Social Democratic Party but has overtaken the main opposition Moderates in many polls. All mainstream parties have ruled out working with them.

 

But they could emerge from the election as kingmakers, and a strong election showing could force the next government to take their views into consideration when shaping policy.

 

Their policies include a total freeze on asylum seekers and accepting refugees only from Sweden's neighbours in the future. They also want tougher penalties for crime and more powers for police, and say tax cuts and higher spending on welfare could be funded by cutting the immigration budget.

 

Jimmie Akesson, the leader of the Sweden Democratic party, has described the situation as "pretty fantastic".

 

"We are dominating the debate even though no one will talk to us," he told party members.

 

RUTHLESS CRIMINAL UNDERCLASS

There were 129 shootings in Stockholm in 2017. Nineteen people were killed in the attacks, almost twice as many as in 2016, according to official figures.

 

In Malmo, where about 45 percent of the 330,000 inhabitants have an immigrant background, police say three or four gangs are operating. Swedish media say nine people have been shot dead in the city this year after 21 in the previous two year-period.

 

A 2017 police report into Sweden's most deprived areas pointed to a heavily armed and ruthless criminal underclass.

 

All the areas identified by police are socially deprived suburbs with large immigrant populations, places where poverty and long-term youth unemployment are big problems.

 

Among these is the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby, where two men walked into a pizzeria packed with families in January and shot a man dead in what police said was a gang killing.

 

When it was built in the 1970s, Rinkeby was a symbol of modernity, part of what became known as Sweden's Million Homes project to replace run-down inner-city slums with clean, well-planned suburbs with their own schools, shops and healthcare facilities.

 

With ninety-one percent of its 16,000 inhabitants born abroad or to parents born outside Sweden, only half of them working, the area is now synonymous with failed integration, unemployment and social exclusion.

 

Police say people in Rinkeby live in fear of a group known as the Death Patrol gang.

 

"A few individuals have kept an entire neighbourhood terrified," said Mohamed Nuur, 26, a local Social Democrat politician. Witnesses of the pizzeria shooting were afraid to testify against the suspects, he said.

 

Rinkeby was one of several suburbs in northern Stockholm hit by riots in 2013 which fuelled debate about how Sweden is coping with youth unemployment and the influx of immigrants, issues raised by urban violence in France in 2005 and Britain in 2011.

 

"RIGHT-WING PATH"

Many Swedes were horrified in early 2017 when U.S. President Donald Trump linked immigration to rising crime in Sweden, but an increasing number now agree with him.

 

The Sweden Democrats have succeeded in linking the two in the minds of many voters, even though official statistics show no correlation between overall levels of crime and immigration.

 

Sweden has one of the highest levels of lethal gun violence in Europe, World Health Organisation data showed. But while the number of foreign-born citizens has risen for decades, murder rates are roughly flat.

 

The government denies it has lost control but Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has not ruled out sending the military into problem areas.

 

Moving to the right, he has tried to deal with the threat posed by the Sweden Democrats by saying immigration - down to 26,000 in 2017 - should halve from last year's level.

 

The government has also proposed tougher punishments for gun crimes and sexual assaults, wants to stop financial support for undocumented foreigners, put more of those whose identity is unclear in holding centres and accelerate repatriation of failed asylum seekers.

 

The Moderates have also toughened their stance on crime and immigration, promising a crackdown on welfare for asylum seekers and a ban on begging. Both main parties say Sweden will not return to liberal asylum rules suspended in 2015.

 

"Sweden is going down a more right-wing path," said Nick Aylott, a political scientist at Sodertorn University said. "It is almost impossible to avoid according some sort of influence to a party with around 20 percent of the vote."

 

(Editing by Timothy Heritage)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-06-26

[ivor bigun]

And this is what modern immigration brings and very little else.

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[FreddieRoyle]

No idea why they get repeatedly called "far right". Looking after native Swedes as a priority should be common sense for any political party. The age of the loony left in Sweden is drawing to a end(thankfully) but I fear the damage inflicted is way too severe already. 

 Good luck Sweden Democrats. This will be fun.

[observer90210]

This is what happens all over the world when the naïve, upper class liberals, democrats or moderates make stupid decisions and overflow the immigration tap to remain in the politically correct, the hardcore hate and racist groups take over.

Edited June 26, 2018 by observer90210

[ivor bigun]

The thing is it is not the the hardcore and racist groups that are taking over.its the ordinary man and woman in the street that has had enough

 

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[Vacuum]

There's a hole in the hull, and the ship is sinking. Good luck!

[FreddieRoyle]

34 minutes ago, ivor bigun said:

The thing is it is not the the hardcore and racist groups that are taking over.its the ordinary man and woman in the street that has had enough

 

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I though his rise of hardcore and racist groups taking over was referring to the vile feminist lefty government that has wrecked the nation of Sweden. The SD are a welcome middle of the road party that do not want to continue extinguishing Swedish culture. Hardly right wing or hateful!

[Expatthailover]

This is exactly how hitler came to power.

Demonise a group, make the silent majority afraid and then foment violence and disruption.

Its not new, but far right and new age fogies are all for it.

Too many of them and not enough of us is their clarion call.

10 years later, millions of wasted lives and a blighted landscape and everyone realises what a huge mistake.

Tend to find with these far right loonies that they are cowards and bullies who would run a mile in a real fight.

Thickheads are in their element right now.

[ivor bigun]

Thing is Hitler demonized a group who did not cause any trouble .but where on the whole rich and he could take all they had
Immigrants on the other hand( not all) have destroyed the countrys that they have invaded. Sweden being a case in point

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[thaibeachlovers]

So, apparently Sweden takes in loads of immigrants that presumably don't speak Swedish, or have anything in common with the Swedes, then dumps them in ghettos without jobs.

What else did they expect?

[Scott]

A post making claims without support has been reported and removed.  

[Kiwiken]

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

So, apparently Sweden takes in loads of immigrants that presumably don't speak Swedish, or have anything in common with the Swedes, then dumps them in ghettos without jobs.

What else did they expect?

Well said. this I think is the crux of the matter. We take these people into our Country knowing there are already problems with Our own poor and homeless. Where are Refugee migrants going but the bottom of the heap. This breeds the contempt which feeds into the anger of the working and middle classes who see them as a problem.

Before you take them you need to have set up the systems to integrate them. Just expecting people of a different culture to integrate easily into you Society is Naive. Its not the immigrants fault or the ordinary people. But a failure of Government and the Wealthy who promote these ideas.

Where they commit serious crime they should be deported. I support this for all immigrants who commit serious crime in their adopted Country.

[BB1958]

We are not helping "economic" migrants importing them into ANY country.

 

Please do not take that statement as meaning they do not need help. THEY DO and WE SHOULD HELP THEM!!!

Please watch this and decide for yourself..... It will only take about 6 minutes to watch.

The internet HAS counterarguments - I have read them and NOT found them compelling ..

 

 

[Jai Dee]

A troll post has been removed from this thread.

[bert bloggs]

7 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

So, apparently Sweden takes in loads of immigrants that presumably don't speak Swedish, or have anything in common with the Swedes, then dumps them in ghettos without jobs.

What else did they expect?

Better that they dont take them in then ,they should have stayed in their own country. but then ,we all know what they wanted and expected , a nice life doing nothing with everything free . and they are not "dumped" in ghettos ,they are put in flats and homes ,that should have gone to local people ,then they make them into the same ghettos that they came from.

[pedro01]

14 hours ago, Expatthailover said:

This is exactly how hitler came to power.

Demonise a group, make the silent majority afraid and then foment violence and disruption.

Its not new, but far right and new age fogies are all for it.

Too many of them and not enough of us is their clarion call.

10 years later, millions of wasted lives and a blighted landscape and everyone realises what a huge mistake.

Tend to find with these far right loonies that they are cowards and bullies who would run a mile in a real fight.

Thickheads are in their element right now.

 

 

 

This has nothing to do with Hitler. Grow up for heaven's sake

 

Mass Immigration has caused issues in Sweden - these do not have to be resolved with gas chambers but people ARE looking for a resolution. This does not make them Nazis.

 

The immigration thing was a massive liberal experiment that was never done on the back of voters permission/referendum. 

 

They are trying to put the genie back in the bottle in Sweden by stifling free speech, a bit like they are trying to do in the UK right now - broadening the definition of hate crimes, having people turn in their neighbours, giving Islam a special status when it comes to free speech. So if you say something like "Islam is a facist ideology" - you can go to jail in Sweden. Say the same about any other religion and it's OK. (https://samnytt.se/71-ariga-denny-kallade-islam-for-fascistisk-ideologi-atalas-for-hets-mot-folkgrupp/) - It's almost as if the Swedish government is trying to create more hatred.

 

Immigrants are not happy, the conditions they live in are poor. Many of the locals are not happy. So of course a more right leaning party will get more votes. People do vote based on the impact the government will have on their own lives. That has still not been criminalized in Sweden yet.

 

So calm down, everything right of center is NOT Hitler...

 

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, BB1958 said:

We are not helping "economic" migrants importing them into ANY country.

 

Please do not take that statement as meaning they do not need help. THEY DO and WE SHOULD HELP THEM!!!

Please watch this and decide for yourself..... It will only take about 6 minutes to watch.

The internet HAS counterarguments - I have read them and NOT found them compelling ..

 

 

I fully agree that there are many people in the world that need help. I just don't agree that we have to help them by letting people with zero cultural affinity into our countries. 

There are something like 17 million people wanting to move to western countries, and that isn't going to happen, for obvious reasons. The way to help them is by supporting them in safe countries with similar cultural mores.

[BB1958]

1 minute ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I fully agree that there are many people in the world that need help. I just don't agree that we have to help them by letting people with zero cultural affinity into our countries. 

There are something like 17 million people wanting to move to western countries, and that isn't going to happen, for obvious reasons. The way to help them is by supporting them in safe countries with similar cultural mores.

Or assisting them in their own societies. It will cost us; removing the likes o Idi Amin, Robert Mugabie and the may muslim dictators, Junta's and the like. If people are free in their own societies - they will grow at their own pace.

[Thaidream]

A very complex problem for the World. Sweden has made a huge mistake by not only bringing in to many migrants without a real plan but allowing them to settle in areas that have become ghettos.  Of course there are no jobs for them- they can't speak Swedish; those from the Middle East -instead of trying to assimilate- proselytize and try and convert  others to their religion and culture and then become angry when they can't have Sharia Law or a call to prayer 5 times a day. IMHO- if you don't want to assimilate and don't like where you are- you have the option to return to your own country. Why should a Swede have to accommodate an immigrant?

 

Stockholm, Malmo, London, Paris and other once great European cities contain no go areas because the authorities refuse to admit that they have made a mistake and forcefully let migrants know that Stockholm is Swedish not Syrian; and London is British and not  a Muslim enclave.  People have a right to practice any religion they want but  when they emigrate to another country- they cannot expect that country to change its own culture and religious beliefs to accommodate  them.

 

The best way to help people of other countries is for the World powers to force countries to stop fighting wars; stop selling and giving them military equipment to fight the wars and instead  provide basic foreign aid to get their economies moving . Give them a reason to stay home and most will.

 

 

[dick dasterdly]

4 hours ago, BB1958 said:

Or assisting them in their own societies. It will cost us; removing the likes o Idi Amin, Robert Mugabie and the may muslim dictators, Junta's and the like. If people are free in their own societies - they will grow at their own pace.

A difficult point.

 

The point is probably WHY  the west became fixated on certain dictators, when they've mostly ignored other dictators - as long as they suited their 'cause'?

Edited June 27, 2018 by dick dasterdly

[BB1958]

50 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

A difficult point.

 

The point is probably WHY  the west became fixated on certain dictators, when they've mostly ignored other dictators - as long as they suited their 'cause'?

I too find that point hard to understand. How North Korea can survive THREE dictators, YET more than 1 Trillion dollars are spent on Iraq(SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_cost_of_the_Iraq_War) On this same page, it adds up the cost of both Iraq & Afghanistan = 2.4 Trillion Dollars. Mind-boggling. The US endured a crippling recession and I am sure these wars contributed immensely (I have no source it is purely conjecture). The US people should not have suffered this recent recession - it cost many lives.

 

Sweden is the focus here, but as other posters have mentioned it could be US, UK, Australia, etc.. Could even be Thailand in it's own unique way. 

 

There ARE answers out there, we need to fix this as a "species" and not as a "tribe".

[nausea]

Isn't there some proverb about taking a tiger cub as a pet.

[Scott]

Troll post removed.  

[thaibeachlovers]

6 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

A difficult point.

 

The point is probably WHY  the west became fixated on certain dictators, when they've mostly ignored other dictators - as long as they suited their 'cause'?

They like "our" dictators. Saddam was a great favourite of Rumsfeld till he went barmy and invaded Kuwait. Britain was supporting Idi as long as they could. Etc etc etc.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

all this long article without mentioning even once the one word that everybody are so afraid of even mentioning  - MUSLIMS.

 

If sweden's 500,000 immigrants were from thailand or other buddhist country, i don't think they 

would be responsible to so much violent crime, or criminal violence, or whatever those muslims

are doing, even if it does'nt make any economic or even criminal sense .

[MyFriend You]

Oh Yeah, I want to move to Sweden, Beautiful girls, great food and beer  -  gonna leave tonight.  Oh wait, I need to pack my Bullet proof vest so I can use the Internet Cafe's in Stockholm. 

 

No wonder there are so many Scandanavians in Thailand, Its safer here!!!

[Grouse]

I was in Stockholm a week ago, Copenhagen at the weekend and now London.

 

As a bleeding heart left wing, liberal, elitist I am nevertheless pro SD ( not Sicherheits Dienst, but Swedish Democrat) Sweden has twice the land area and 1/7 the population of the UK - they have loads of space. However the Muslim migrants just don't fit and should be removed. Most Swedes I spoke to take this line but do not wish to leave the EU. They still have the SKr. Wonderfully civilised country but these people are a blot because they don't integrate. The usual bearded baseball capped yobs on street corners. Burkha clad women in Gruna Lunds Tivoli! No, sorry, wrong country! This problem is a blot on Stockholm but an avalanche on Malmo!

 

Strangely, over the bridge in Copenhagen it's much less a visible problem. I saw none of these people in the Tivoli Gardens, nor Radhusplatsen, nor Nyhavn. Denmark is noticeably more expensive than Sweden - beer is typically £8 for 0.5L. Maybe the cost of living is an issue? But the key thing is that new arrivals have 3 months to find a job AND, crucially, be able to converse in basic Danish! Do you speak Danish? I do. The pronunciation is VERY difficult. Ta' ska' du ha'!

 

As for London, I'm off for a curry !?

Edited June 27, 2018 by Grouse

[tomacht8]

I am also in favor of stopping uncontrolled immigration.

that has nothing to do with alien hostility. 

Europe can not absorb 600 million African economic refugees and not 100 million integration unwilling islam people.

[simple1]

7 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

all this long article without mentioning even once the one word that everybody are so afraid of even mentioning  - MUSLIMS.

 

If sweden's 500,000 immigrants were from thailand or other buddhist country, i don't think they 

would be responsible to so much violent crime, or criminal violence, or whatever those muslims

are doing, even if it does'nt make any economic or even criminal sense .

You are ignoring crimes against humanity by Buddhist security forces in Myanmar, Thailand and Sri Lanka, as well as the high crime rate in Thailand. With reference to Sweden...

 

https://www.government.se/articles/2017/02/facts-about-migration-and-crime-in-sweden/

[mokwit]

On 6/27/2018 at 2:47 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

So, apparently Sweden takes in loads of immigrants that presumably don't speak Swedish, or have anything in common with the Swedes, then dumps them in ghettos without jobs.

What else did they expect?

They dump them in ghettos because for all their virtue signalling the Swedes don't really want them in their neigbourhoods/their daughters school. Check out those nice waterfront suburbs the Swedish elite live in - not an immigrant in sight and the police would be along sharpish if there was. Hypocrites.

 

Funny how the Liberals are back pedaling on immigration now that it is recognised as unpopular - anybody would think they actually had no real principles and were slimy flip flopping political eels only interested in saying anything to get voted in. What happened to their "humanity" and their "compassion" now idiotic immigration policies are seen to be vote losers? Now advancing policy changes that they denigrated as "racist". Hypocrites.

 

I LMAO at this

"Who's responsible for this ?" "That would be the politicians !" LMAO