Swedish police officers in the city of Malmo and in Orebro over the past week encountered unruly mobs who attacked them with stones and damaged taxpayer property. Sweden’s National Police Commander Jonas Hysing while addressing reporters said that 26 police officials and 14 individuals, including protesters, were injured.
The protesters, mostly immigrants and Muslims from west Asia and north Africa among other nations, attacked the police after they alleged that their religious sentiments were hurt after Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan planned Quran burnings across the country.
Angered youth set fire to car tires, debris and garbage cans in the Rosengard district and attacked policemen who were then forced to respond by firing tear gas into the crowd, who were also pelting stones at cops.
But Paludan is only an agent-provocateur.
Europe is known for its true liberal values which allow freedom of expression and speech which is increasingly coming under threat from all political sides and Sweden is no different.
Swedish society, which has stood up for multiculturalism and stood against racism, have also now become aware that there is a certain section of migrants in Sweden who are not interested in assimilation and threaten to impose their values on Swedish society.
Paludan’s actions deserve criticism as it was aimed at the Muslim population of Sweden who are celebrating Ramadan but it is worth mentioning that Swedish population is growing tired of the ‘political correctness’ stance their liberal politicians have taken as they believe it undermines their basic rights.
This has also led to Swedish people voice their opposition to granting asylum to refugees and to those who think it is human to do so now feel that this is an issue that needs a rethink.
Take the example of Swedish no-go zones, the segregated suburbs where the residents are mostly Muslims and where criminals have an impact on the local community.
The Swedish police officials told Swedish news agency The Local that threats, stone-throwing, or vandalism of their vehicles occur but also pointed out that there are days when nothing notable occurs.
What is worth highlighting is that the numbers of these areas have increased across Sweden and in its largest cities like the capital Stockholm and Malmo. As of 2017, 5,000 criminals and 200 criminal networks in these vulnerable areas or no-go zones were active.
Many Swedes believe that Islamism is a threat to Sweden’s culture of openness and most say that they are not racists and understand that not all migrants are ungrateful towards the hospitality they have been extended.
They, however, oppose gender segregation, marriage practices and treatment of women in Islam which is in stark contrast to Swedish culture which respects gender equality.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, writing for alternative news agency UnHerd, in her article titled ‘Sweden’s migrant rape crisis’ also pointed out that liberal commentators in Sweden are uncomfortable in pointing out that the rise in violent crimes against women including rape are tied to unchecked migration as the offenders are those who were born outside of Sweden (47.7%) and 34.5% of them were from the west Asia and north Africa.
A research paper by Danielle Lee Tomson in Brookings.edu titled ‘The Rise of Sweden Democrats: Islam, Populism and the End of Swedish Exceptionalism’ highlights the issue of ‘women’s only’ spa and sauna time in Sweden’s towns which have become a hot button issue.
Swedish spas and saunas as well as their swimming pools are mixed-gender but a local council was forced to ‘make certain hours of the bath house “women only” to accommodate cultural and religious needs of Muslim women’.
Tomson interviewed a woman who chose to not wear any clothes in the sauna for hygienic reasons but faced the wrath of a group of Muslim women who were opposed to her actions. “They told me to my face: We don’t listen to you. We don’t care about you. We’re sitting in the sauna with clothes on. And you can do nothing about it,” the interviewer told Tomson.
Incidents and statistics should be handled with care and the acts of a few should not be used to stigmatise the entire group or community but the policy of being silent for the sake of political correctness may have led to fresh challenges for Sweden.
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