- Title: Riots in Stockholm suburb as police make an arrest
- Date: 21st February 2017
- Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (FEBRUARY 21, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Swedish) POLICE COMMISSIONER, JAN EVENSSON, SAYING: "No. I don't believe we have that (no go areas) in Sweden. I don't believe there are such areas. There are areas with greater challenges and they have been there for many years and mostly it's about people needing employment. We see that where there is less empl
- Embargoed: 7th March 2017 17:10
- Keywords: police stone throwing burning cars Rinkeby riot Stockholm
- Location: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- City: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- Country: Sweden
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
- Reuters ID: LVA00864GQZWN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Riots broke out in the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby, causing damage to cars and buildings, on Monday night (February 20) as police were making an arrest.
The unrest started when an arrest was being made near the underground station in Rinkeby, which is a mainly immigrant suburb just north of Stockholm, police said.
"The first (wave) was an interception of a more traditional character when, I believe it was basically about a narcotics offence that one intervened against, and in the course of the events when police tried to get hold of these persons they entered premises and found a person who was wanted, and during the arrest of this person police were met with great resistance and violence with stone throwing and other (types of) violence," Commissioner Jan Evensson said on Tuesday (February 21).
Police said that as they pursued suspects into a premise, several people threw rocks. They responded by firing one shot.
There were no injuries and one arrest was made, police added.
In a second wave of unrest, 10 cars were set alight and some shops looted, police said.
"Afterwards it grew and quite a few people, youths gathered and went to attack against premises in Rinkeby centre and damaged them and went into the shops and then there was a confrontation with police at the scene," Evensson said.
Bengi Yusma's pizzeria was one premise damaged during the violence.
"I've lost the energy. I'm sick of this square. Something happens all the time. I can't take it. So one thinks, who actually needs this?" he said as he swept glass from damaged windows in his restaurant.
Rinkeby is on a list of fifteen so-called "particularly vulnerable" areas in Sweden, as published by Swedish authorities.
In 2013, in the mainly immigrant Stockholm suburb of Husby, around a hundred cars were burned and seven police were injured in five nights of rioting, which spread on a smaller scale to other cities across the country.
However, Evensson said there were no places in Sweden that could be labelled "no go areas".
"There are areas with greater challenges and they have been there for many years and mostly it's about people needing employment. We see that where there is less employment, we have bigger problems. That's nothing new," he said.
Calm was restored around midnight and Evensson said no further incidents were expected on Tuesday night, but police were prepared for any developments. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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