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With export hits such as the Astrid Lindgren stories, the Ikea furniture store or Abba’s pop songs, Sweden has written cultural history and is considered by many to be the ultimate idyll. But the ideal world around Pippi Longstocking was once over.
There have been more than 2,500 shootings in Sweden in the past six years. There is no other country in Europe where so many people are killed with firearms. Twelve people died from bullets in September alone. Perpetrators and victims are often young men from problem areas.
Experts speak of 30,000 gang members
Violence by rival gangs has been occurring for years in Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg, but also in the countryside. It is about abandoned neighborhoods, shootings on the street and a police force that can only solve a fraction of the cases because hardly any residents of the problem neighborhoods talk to them. Politicians have declared war on criminal groups so many times, but so far they have always been unsuccessful. Experts estimate that the number of gang members today is approximately 30,000. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (59) now even wants to use the army against the gangs.
It seems that Sweden cannot get gang crime under control. The country is now seen as a warning to its Scandinavian neighbors about what exactly not to do when it comes to immigration and integration. According to a report in the “Tages-Anzeiger”, Denmark, Norway and Finland are now openly talking about the “Swedish conditions”, i.e. a kind of social nightmare.
Gangs are also spreading in Finland
There is great fear that the violence will spread to neighboring countries. The gangs are no longer only active in Sweden. The border between Norway and Sweden was found to be virtually unguarded, said Trond Bruen Olsen, head of the organized crime unit at the Oslo Criminal Investigation Department. Of course the gangs have it easy.
There are also increasing reports of increasing gang activity from Finland. Police recently announced that the Stockholm-based gang Dödspatrullen (Death Patrols) was smuggling drugs across the Finnish border on a large scale. The Ministry of the Interior warns that other gangs are now also sensing the dawn and trying to gain a foothold in Helsinki.
The main reason for Sweden’s misery is the high concentration of immigrants in certain residential areas over the years. Parallel societies have established themselves in neglected and neglected neighborhoods. Politicians, with their mostly social democratic governments, have closed their eyes to the problem for far too long and are now paying the price for it.
Gangs lure young people with quick money
As a result, the block settlements built in the 1960s have become a social hotspot with an increasing share of poorly integrated foreigners, low education levels and high youth unemployment. Most young people see neither a perspective nor a way out of their predicament. The gangs, on the other hand, lure people with quick money and unsurprisingly find fertile ground in this environment.
There is a lot at stake for Sweden. Because the image of the idyllic place of desire has developed significant cracks. A look at the global ranking of the most liveable cities speaks volumes. While Stockholm used to always hold top positions, today it only ranks 43rd.
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
