Observing Sweden – Via Russia and Reuters

This excerpt from RT News (Russia). Not sure how accurate this is, especially the last two lines, but have noticed nothing about it in Swedish news. I do know rock trowing at police is common in Stockholm. Cops gather in groups to take rock-proof bus to work.

Vehicles set ablaze for 2nd night amid riots in Stockholm suburb

RT News -Published time: 27 Mar, 2016 05:26Edited time: 27 Mar, 2016 05:26
Violent riots continued for a second night in the southern Stockholm suburb of Alby, known for its significant immigrant population, RT’s Ruptly agency reports. Protesters set fire to cars and pelted police and emergency services with rocks and pyrotechnics. On Thursday night, police were patrolling the suburb, which is home to large Syrian and Armenian diasporas, as well as more recent Iraqi refugees, when a rock flew through the back window of their parked car. As officers searched for the culprits, the rioters set fire to tires on a public bridge, and poured gasoline over several cars, before lighting them up. When fire crews arrived they were also showered with projectiles.
On Friday night, police encountered yet more clashes with residents, although there has been no official confirmation of a link between the scuffles.One man was arrested Thursday, but has since been released.

Sweden’s last major riots took place in 2013, provoked by an alleged incident of police brutality. But there have been widely-publicized incidents involving foreign-born residents, including asylum center murders, and sexual assault cases, over the past year.
Sweden accepted nearly 170,000 asylum seekers in 2015, more per capita than any other EU state.
As Swedish law forbids police to record the ethnicity and origin of the perpetrators, the identity of the recent rioters is unlikely to be uncovered.

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And this from Reuters, closer to home.  We live in of Dalarna province, Borlange.
Published time: 24 Mar, 2016 17:58

Anti-migrant group ‘Soldiers of Odin’ expands street patrols to Sweden

Members of the anti-immigrant group Soldiers of Odin Estonia- Reuters
The far-right, anti-migrant vigilante group “Soldiers of Odin” has expanded its presence to Sweden after gaining popularity in Finland, Estonia and Norway. The group was established in response to the European refugee crisis.

Soldiers of Odin made its Swedish vigilante debut in the province of Dalarna last weekend, patrolling the towns of Borlange, Hedemora, and Säter, Dagens Nyheter newspaper reported. It was later spotted in Stockholm. The group has about 100 full members in Sweden and nearly 5,000 supporters, spokesman Mikael Johansson told Avesta Tidning newspaper. Sweden is the fourth country to be ‘patrolled’ by Soldiers of Odin, which was created in late 2015. But although the group says it is protecting its chosen locations against “immigrant violence,” it has been accused of being a front for a Nazi organization – a claim which Johansson denies.“Violent crime is rampaging, while police resources are on the decline. Before they get together any more resources, we help them the best we can,” he said.

However, according to the group’s Facebook page, the founder of Soldiers of Odin has “National Socialist views,” but “his writings are not the group’s writings,” YLE reported. Johansson did acknowledge that some of the group’s individual members also have clear links to right-wing extremism, but maintained that those traits are part of their private lives, rather than a feature of Soldiers of Odin.

“The way the Soldiers of Odin is built [can be] compared with a motorcycle gang. It is structured in much the same way. We want to get the right people, but we do not want to get into right-wing guys who think they can go out and fight in the streets,” Johansson said.

O tempora, O mores!