Swedish Police in and around Stockholm were kept busy last night as Islamic Refugees, took to the streets attacking police and setting fire to vehicles following the arrest of one of their own by officers. Despite the size of the crowd, Officers were forced to fire warning shots when a group of unidentified persons charged the officers.
The incident took place last night in the Rinkeby district of Stockholm. At least one police officer was injured late on Monday when they were hit by a rock thrown by refugees intent on looting stores. Authorities said it was hard to tell the exact size of the crowd as people kept joining it and then leaving with items they had taken from the stores.
A spokesperson said they mob advanced through the area, setting cars on fire, throwing stones at police and looting local stores. At one point, a police officer was injured during the clashes, forcing law enforcers to fire several warning shots at the crowd, Swedish public service broadcaster SVT reported.
The riot reportedly started after police arrested a wanted suspect at a local subway station in Rinkeby. That district has one of the highest number of refugees in Stockholm. Authorities said the initial arrest took place at around 8pm Monday evening. Authorities say they are not sure what started the rioting and looting, it just sort of took on a life of its own.
One minute the officers were doing their job and the next, people were throwing rocks and screaming at police. At least seven or eight cars were burned during the course of events, police said in a statement. In addition to the officer, at least one photographer from the Dagens Nyheter newspaper said he had been assaulted by a group of some 15 people while he was attempting to report on the disturbance.
Lars Bystrom, a Stockholm police spokesperson, issued a statement which said, “The unrest reportedly started after police arrested a wanted person at the subway station in Rinkeby, one of the districts with the highest number of immigrants in Stockholm, at around 8pm on Monday. It is unclear how many people were involved in the riot, adding that there were between 30-50 people. Some may have disappeared, others have been added, it is difficult to get a handle on how many exactly. We have a fairly large number of police officers trained to handle this type of a situation.”
One shop owner was severally beaten when his shop was broken into and his alarm sent a message to his phone. When the man went to investigate the alarm, he was jumped by several of the marauding refugees. Police were finally able to restore order after midnight. Officials said an investigation is being conducted into the violent mob riots and the assaults against police officers.
