Stockholm, You Say?

"I don't know the reasons behind what's happened, but perhaps these people didn't go to school, didn't apply for jobs and just haven't tried.
"But it is important to mention that many of them did not come from Husby and that this is about a few criminal youths, not entire neighbourhoods.
"This is not normal."
Adam Khoder, Moderate Party for the Rinkeby-Kista council, Stockholm local government

It is normal for the Paris banlieues. Perhaps Stockholm should confer with Paris. Where, there too, police are persona non-grata; they enter those immigrant-crowded areas at their own risk, particularly at night, and unsurprisingly not many of those intrepid gendarmes are prepared to do that. They remain discreetly out of harm's way. Torching cars and other rampages are popular there, too.

Swedish police are confronting the violence that has purportedly taken them by surprise. After all, if it's a result of protests about the death of a man who had emigrated from Portugal, that was an incident that requires clearing up of course, but doesn't seem to be linked to the Muslim youth that are now running amok. Other than that he and his wife had been confronted by a group of youths, which began the whole sad affair where he ended up being shot by police.

Violence isn't actually sad, it's horrendously appalling. And that about describes the situation in Stockholm about now. The shooting, granted, did take place in Husby where 60% of the residents are of immigrant stock, where unemployment is twice the national average, and where similar unrest has occurred previously. The youths involved in the rioting appear to be from Middle East, Somalian, Turkish backgrounds.

They've been rioting, torching cars, burning trash cans, attacking schools, pelting emergency workers with rocks in ongoing spasms of violence.  It's been five days of ongoing violent confrontations; raging madness. Young men throw rocks at firefighters responding to calls, and police are being attacked in Husby. Other jurisdictions, suburbs of the capital have reported vandalism and fires as well.

"The local families I met yesterday are extremely angry and sad and they hope those responsible get harsh sentences", said Adam Khoder.  A Husby school and cultural centre were torched, a school set on fire at Skaerholmen, and a police station and buildings in central Jakobsberg were vandalized. Stockholm is no longer a sedate city of satisfied burghers.

"While the situation has become better in Husby, where a lot of local people have become engaged to calm things down, it has intensified on the southern side of the city. We will continue to show our presence in the suburbs with strengthened resources", assured police spokesman Kjell Lindgren. Well, that's certainly reassuring.

Just a little bit of cross-cultural misunderstanding. Once things calm down and settle back down to normalcy, everyone can breathe easy and life can go on. The schools that were fire-bombed, the places that were vandalized, the cars that were destroyed, they will all be replaced. Those responsible for the damages will be apprehended.

Oh, they're mostly masked, that'll complicate things, won't it?

One can imagine Swedes fretting about what they've done to instill such hatred in the hearts of young men whom they believed their generosity was aiding in advancing their opportunities in life, to live in such an open society committed to equality and racial and religious harmony.

One wonders how many among them have experienced the sinking feeling that this is a situation whose depth and worrying consequences has only just begun...