One of the most contentious and oft talked about issues currently facing Europe is the migrant crisis and EU immigration policies. The immigrants, most of whom are from Muslim-majority nations, have caused quite a stir throughout Europe as the resulting culture clash has led to some concerning trends including an up-tick in sexual violence. However, some European countries have had a more difficult time than others managing the burgeoning population of immigrants. Yet, some nations that have had a slew of problems related to its large scale acceptance of migrants have refused to officially acknowledge that problems exist or have chosen to heavily downplay their impact.
There is no better example of this than Sweden. Despite its well-meaning altruism, Swedish society has changed radically in recent years as a direct result of its mass acceptance of immigrants from Muslim-majority nations. Once a country with a remarkably low crime rate, violent crime has been on the rise as mostly male immigrants have been responsible for a series of high-profile murders and sexual assaults against Swedes. The increase has been truly massive, with violent crime increasing by 300% and the number of rapes reported to police climbing a drastic 1,472%. However, the Swedish government has consistently acted like these trends are not taking place, drawing accusations that they are covering up migrant-related violence for the sake of “humanitarianism.” This policy recently provoked a Swedish veteran cop to rant about immigrant crimes and condemn the government’s response, provoking a tense national debate.
Even mainstream media outlets – including many for the US – have supported the Swedish government’s position that everything is fine in Sweden. However, last year, one such news crew, of the “60 minutes” Australia news program, traveled to Sweden to allegedly show how peaceful the refugees are, only to be assaulted and beaten by a “gang” of immigrants.
However, a recent Fox News interview featuring documentary filmmaker Ami Horowitz took a different angle on the issue compared to the rest of mainstream media, prompting President Trump to publicly address the issue and to tweet the following:
Give the public a break – The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2017
Trump’s assertion that all is not well in Sweden was met with widespread ridicule on Twitter and throughout the mainstream media who spent nearly an entire news cycle downplaying the immigrant crisis in Sweden and painting Trump’s comments as ignorant and having no basis in reality. Yet, recent events – taking place literally just days after Trump’s tweet on the subject – may soon have them back-tracking substantially.
Early Monday, major riots broke out in the crowded Stockholm borough of Rinkeby, which houses a large number of immigrants and – incidentally – was the same area where the 60 minutes crew was attacked last year. As the violence erupted, Stockholm police fired numerous warning shots as hundreds of people took to the streets, throwing stones and burning cars. Freelance Photographer Janne Åkesson, present at the riots, described the scene to Dagbladet: “They threw stones at police and police fired warning shots. I got out when it was at its worst.” He added that there were many youths with hoods and hats on. It was very chaotic. I have seen much in Rinkeby: they burn cars all the time – unfortunately this was beyond the ordinary.” Mainstream media has been slow to report on the latest violence in Sweden, despite their eagerness to label Trump’s comments as “fake news.”
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This article (Only Days After Trump Was Ridiculed for Sweden Immigration Concerns, Violent Immigrant Riots Erupt in Stockholm) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and True Activist.
