Gang violence at home hampers Sweden’s EU vision

STOCKHOLM – Outside an apartment block in Grimsta, a suburb on the western edge of the Swedish capital, a mother and daughter wept in shock when they first saw the football-sized hole left by an explosive in the front wall of their home saw. House.

Police believe the explosives were thrown in retaliation for the New Year’s Eve shootings outside a McDonald’s restaurant in nearby Wallingaby. Many Gang violence recently broke out in Stockholm, killing three people, injuring several others and leaving housing block façades gutted, blazed and glass missing.

“We are scared,” said the mother in Grimsta, not wanting to give her name because she feared for her safety. “We know the explosive was probably targeting one person living in our building, but it affects all of us,” she said.

For Sweden’s new government, which was elected in September in large part on a commitment to tackling gang-related crime, an increase in bloodshed over Christmas and the New Year represents a threat to its credibility with voters. Gang crime was a defining issue of last year’s election campaignAnd new Prime Minister Ulf Christerson’s commitment to tackling violence is arguably the policy area that binds his minority centre-right government firmly with the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD), who support him in parliament.

Christerson has vowed to deliver a “paradigm shift” in criminal justice by using, among other things, longer prison sentences to remove gang members from the streets and prevent new recruits. Although it is early days in his administration, there are little signs of change.

There were 126 shootings in Stockholm County alone. recorded In 2022, there were 31 attacks with explosives with 28 deaths, up from 25 attacks with explosives in 2021 with 23 deaths. Across the country, Sweden saw 388 shootings last year, resulting in 61 deaths, and 90 explosive attacks; There was a one-third increase in the number of deaths compared to the previous year.

It is already clear that the violence continues in 2023. On Wednesday last week, a man was shot dead at a train station in Jordbro, on the southern edge of Stockholm, and a bomb was thrown at a nearby apartment block last Thursday. Farsta, damaging a ladder.

Police suspect gang conflicts, many of which have evolved into cycles of city-wide revenge attacks with their roots in competition for control of illegal drug sales. They believe the Christmas Day killing of a man in the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby may have triggered subsequent attacks in the city’s south.

Christerson accepts challenge to police notes Posted on social media last week by his moderate party on local outlet TV4 and underlined his commitment to act. Europe-wide data for shootings and gang-related violence is scarce, but research from there shows Sweden has one of the highest rates of gun homicides in the European Union.

a comparative study A 2021 report released by Sweden’s National Council for Crime Prevention shows that while gun homicide rates have declined in many other European countries in recent years, rates in Sweden have increased, the authors write. suggested that this could be attributed to “the emergence of a new dynamic group”. Within the criminal environment that has come to shoot each other.

“We have a comprehensive program to deal with this, but I understand that people are impatient,” the prime minister said. “These people shooting each other in the street are not going to stop because we tell them; They need to be shut down.

Sweden’s escalating domestic security crisis is a testing time for Christerson, just as his government begins its six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union and seeks to broaden its vision for international challenges. On 3 January, as glaziers were repairing the blown-out windows of an apartment block in Grimsta, Christerson met the French in Paris to discuss the EU response to Russia’s war on Ukraine, energy security, rising inflation and economic competition. Meeting with President Emmanuel Macron.

‘We failed you’

At the site of the murder in Wellingby, mourners had left candles and notes, some calling for more action closer to home.

An anonymous note said that the man who had died had been let down by his fellow citizens. The note said, “We have failed you as a society.”

On 20 December, the heads of the three governing parties as well as far-right Sweden Democrats leader Jimmy Aksson presented a series of proposals Policy changes to turn the tide of violence. One idea is to allow police to set up temporary areas where they can search for guns and explosives, even if they are not suspected of wrongdoing. The belief is that if such interventions are well implemented, future crime can be prevented.

In addition, officials believe that the use of anonymous witnesses during trials, something currently Not allowed, may help secure more convictions.

Both the ideas are now being reviewed while assessing their potential effectiveness and impact on existing rights of citizens.

Meanwhile, the government has been touting its anti-gang agenda, calling it “the biggest offensive in Swedish history against organized crime”, with some commentators suggesting that Christerson is over-promising on a high-profile initiative. . There are signs that voters are already losing faith in his ability to deliver on campaign promises.

most recently survey Pollster Novus published in the same month showed that support for the opposition Social Democrats is increasing, while support for Christerson and his supporters in parliament is decreasing. Meanwhile, Mid December survey 62 percent of DemoScope’s poll respondents said that the new government is doing a bad job.

domestic dissatisfaction

There have also been instances of division between the government and the far-right SD over criminal justice.

After 11 men were recently cleared of violent rioting charges by a Swedish court, Richard Jomshof, the SD MP who chairs parliament’s justice committee, called the decision “a joke”. Moderate Party member and Justice Secretary Gunnar Stromer criticized statement, MPs “should not comment on personal matters.”

As Christerson prepares to welcome the European Commission to a gathering in the Arctic city of Kiruna this Thursday, he will need to keep his eye on domestic discontent over mass violence.

While he will likely try to show the best side of Sweden – the media handbook for the Kiruna meeting mentions the northern lights, Sami culture and a space research base – little indication of the country’s darker side as street violence spreads across Stockholm’s suburbs Shows extinction.

At a makeshift memorial at the restaurant in Wellingby on Tuesday last week, three women stopped to read messages from mourners.

“Think of the parents, what they must be going through,” said one woman to another. “When will it ever stop?”