Last week, Donald Trump incurred the Internet’s wrath after suggesting that Sweden was having a difficult time controlling its migrant population. But Tuesday, Rinkeby—a “predominantly-immigrant” area of Stockholm—exploded in violence after a drug raid.
Swedish police say that rioting began after officers arrested a suspect on a drug charge. Unidentified attackers launched an offensive against the police, pelting them with rocks and bricks, and then setting parts of the neighborhood on fire, followed by a rash of looting and arson.
Officers had to fire shots in the air to clear the streets, several cars were burned, and a photographer for a Swedish news station was attacked and had his equipment stolen.
The incident was captured on film by locals.
Thankfully, no one was injured. The police made one arrest for throwing rocks, and say they’re undertaking a “complete investigation” into a number of assaults, several incidents of vandalism, and a couple of thefts.
Since Trump’s remarks, at a rally in Florida on Friday, activists—and even the Swedish government—have been giving the President flack on social media, claiming that Sweden has no problems with the around 190,000 migrants the country has taken in over the last five years.
But Trump—and documentarian Ami Horowitz—contend that Sweden’s open-borders policy has coincided with a spike in violent crime. It was an interview with Horowitz last week on Fox News that reportedly inspired Trump to mention Sweden in his speech. Other media outlets have called Horowitz’s facts into question, but the film-maker maintains that Sweden is ignoring a growing problem in its midst.
Since Friday, more video has emerged of Swedish troubles, showing not just political unrest, but a CBS 60 Minutes crew, under attack by Arab men while filming a segment about the European migrant crisis in a Stockholm neighborhood.
Although Horowitz described Rinkeby as a “no go zone” for law enforcement, police who helped quell Tuesday’s violence say that incidents like that are rare. “This kind of situation doesn’t happen that often but it is always regrettable when they happen,” a police spokesperson told the Associated Press.
