HELSINKI, Apr 18 (AP) \u2014 Swedish police said Monday they consider the violent riots that have shaken several cities and towns in the Nordic country extremely serious crimes against society and suspect some protesters are linked to criminal gangs that intentionally target police.
\nSweden, a nation of 10 million, has seen unrest, scuffles, arson and violence since Thursday that has left some police officers and protesters injured. It was triggered by Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan\u2019s meetings and planned Quran burnings across the country.
\n\u201cWe suspect that those involved (in the riots) have links to criminal gangs,\u201d National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg told a news conference on Monday, adding some of those \u201ccriminal individuals\u201d are known to police. \u201cI have been in touch with the public prosecutor to prosecute these individuals.\u201d
\nSweden\u2019s National Police Commander Jonas Hysing said Monday that 26 police and 14 individuals – protesters or other people – have been injured in the riots and 20 police vehicles destroyed or damaged.
\nThe latest riots broke out Sunday night in Malmo, Sweden\u2019s third-largest city, as an angry crowd of mainly young people set fire to car tires, debris and garbage cans in the Rosengard district. Protesters threw stones and police responded by firing tear gas into the crowd. A school and several cars were set on fire but the situation calmed down early Monday.
\nA total of 11 people were detained and three people arrested in Malmo, a city with many residents from other countries. No serious injuries were reported.
\nSince Thursday, in addition to Malmo, riots, unrest and violent clashes have been reported in Stockholm, the central city of Orebro, the eastern cities of Linkoping and Norrkoping and southern town of Landskrona.
\nPolice have been forced to use weapons in self-defense, Hysing said. Three people were hurt in Norrkoping on Sunday as they were hit by ricochets as police fired warning shots into a crowd of protesters.
\n\u201cThere is a lot to suggest that the police were targeted,\u201d Hysing said, adding that some protesters are suspected of attempted murder, aggravated assault and violence against an official.
\nBoth Thornberg and Hysing stressed that the main target for the rioters was Swedish police and society, not Paludan \u2014 seen by many Swedes merely as an agent provocatur \u2014 and his Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party, which runs on an anti-immigrant, anti-Islam agenda.
\nThornberg, Sweden\u2019s supreme police chief, said \u201ccriminal individuals\u201d who took advantage of the situation with Paludan\u2019s Swedish Easter tour and joined the riots, are main suspects for flaming up violence. The unrest escalated quickly after Paludan\u2019s first demonstrations, which were met by counterprotesters in many places last week.
\n\u201cWe must put an end to this early. What we see here is very serious crime,\u201d Thornberg said, referring to the riots.
\nJustice Minister Morgan Johansson said Monday that he continues to have great confidence in the Swedish police despite the unrest over the weekend and pledged more resources to law enforcement.
\n\u201cWhen you end up in these critical and aggressive situations, there\u2019s nothing else police officers can do but to put up a hard fight,\u201d Johannsson told Swedish news outlets. \u201cWe cannot accept that perpetrators commit this type of violence.\u201d
\nIraq\u2019s Foreign Ministry was reported on Sunday to have summoned Sweden\u2019s charge d\u2019affaires over Paludan\u2019s planned Quran burnings, saying such activity could seriously endanger Sweden\u2019s relations with the Muslim world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HELSINKI, Apr 18 (AP) \u2014 Swedish police said Monday they consider the violent riots that have shaken several cities and towns in the Nordic country extremely serious crimes against society and suspect some protesters are linked to criminal gangs that intentionally target police. Sweden, a nation of 10 million, has seen unrest, scuffles, arson and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-189092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189092\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}