Image
Swedish police: High risk immigrant enclaves in Sweden
by Anders Magnus - Journalist, Stockholm; Mohammed Alayoubi - Journalist, Stockholm; Vilde Helljesen - Journalist, Oslo; Mari Reisjå - Video Journalist, Oslo.
Published May 9, 2016
Stockholm, Sweden: Over 50 districts in Sweden is singled out as especially vulnerable areas, where criminal networks have much power, and where lawlessness prevails. NRK was present when police were attacked.
Stockholm police: I can never go to work in these areas without wearing the bulletproof vest, said police officer Biljana Flyberg. Swedish police recognise some of Stockholm's suburbs as areas where there are criminal gangs who make the rules.
More about Sweden
Note: Non-Swedish news teams are reporting on this situation. Laws passed by the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag from 2008 onwards, have made reporting on the immigrant issues happening inside Sweden, a crime. Occasionally, you get something. Most reporting comes from non-Swedish news agencies. Surprisingly, UK news agencies such as "The Express" are publishing a lot.
Video: Lawless Sweden trashed from immigration (Norwegian) [English subtitles]
The masked boy coming towards NRK team.
The police have been notified of drug sales in a garage in the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby. They take no chances and called out with two police buses and two cars.
"We never go out alone on such a mission. It would not have gone - then we would have been inferior, and the youths had gone away on us," said police officer Erik Kallur.
Youth gang dissolves when it sees police force enter the garage. But within seconds, the atmosphere gets very testy.
Youth gang becomes very aggressive when police and NRK comes into the garage after a tip about drug sales. - We will not be filmed, stinging here!
The masked boy stretches his arm out to push away NRK camera. His comrades going. They pull caps good whatsoever, drag scarves to his face so that only his eyes seem, and attempting to encircle NRK photographer.
"This is our place, hitch here!"
The police must keep them in.
"Had not we been here, you would have been really bad out there. Really. Then they had gone away on you. They would have mistreated you," said police officer Kallur to the NRK team.
"Do they try to show that they control the area?"
"They want to believe it. We certainly come and disturb them, but we must be many police officers, otherwise it's not worth it. There are many times we just need to pull back," says Kallur.
Police find large quantities of drugs in the garage and take with them one of the youths. As the police are going to run away, hit a large rock rear window on one of the police cars.
The youth would have the last word.
As a police officer Biljana Flyberg and colleagues leave after having caught a youth gang in a drug deal, the youngsters throw a large stone against the police car. They hit one rear window. -
"If my colleague had been sitting there now... [not good]" says Flyberg.
Stockholm "no go" zones:
Image
"No go zones": There are over 50 areas as police describe as particularly vulnerable, are distributed among a total of 22 Swedish cities. In Sweden there has been a rapid growth of so-called exclusion areas - areas with high unemployment and high school drop.
While there in 1990 were three exclusion areas in Sweden, according to the Swedish People's Party, showing the last calculation, which is done by a researcher and economist Tino Sanandaji in 2012, that number has risen steadily and increased to 186.
A police report the Swedish Rikspolisen announced in 2014, lists 55 of exclusion areas particularly vulnerable neighborhoods where criminal networks have a strong influence. They are called "no go zones". These are areas that have evolved into a parallel society, with a large degree of internal justice [Sharia Law zones] and control.
Image
Swedish police authorities have highlighted 55 areas where they believe local criminal networks have a negative impact on the local community. All areas are located in the south and middle parts of Sweden.
The 55 affected areas are distributed among a total of 22 cities:
Uppsala
Enkoping
Gavle
Koping
Orebro
Stockholm
Sodertalje
Eskilstuna
Norrkoping
Linkoping
Trollhattan
Boras
Gothenburg
Falkenberg
Halmstad
Laholm
Landskrona
Malmo
Kristianstad
Alvesta
Vaxjo
Kalmar
"There is lawlessness in parts of the Stockholm region now", said police inspector Lars Alvarsjø in Stockholm police region to NRK.
"The situation is serious. There are some areas where we seem to lose control. The police can never accept that criminal groups take control in some residential areas, but it is so now in some of the areas around Stockholm."
Almost half of the exposed areas, as Rinkeby and neighboring districts Tensta and Husby, located in the Stockholm area.
Facts about Rinkeby, Tensta and Husby
Suburbs Rinkeby and Tensta located right next to each other and are often referred to as one area: Rinkeby-Tensta:
A total of almost 35,000 residents.
The proportion of inhabitants with a foreign background is approximately 90 percent, according to a police report showing the number from 2010.
In 2010 there were only about six out of ten young people who had school grades who qualify to apply for high school.
Unemployment rate for young adults 20-25 years is around 40 percent, according to the police report.
In a secret police report states that the area for many years has been a central point for drug trafficking in the Stockholm area, writes Aftonbladet .
Criminals commit numerous offenses to retain power in the area: Ran bilbranner and residential burglaries are common, writes Aftonbladet .
More show open support for voldsforherligende, religious extremists, according to the secret police report.
Husby:
More than 12,000 residents.
The proportion of inhabitants with a foreign background are over 80 percent, according to a police report showing the number from 2010.
In 2010, seven out of ten young people who were eligible to apply to the gymnasts.
Unemployment among residents aged 20-25 years is around 30 percent, according to the police report.
According to a secret police report happens drug trafficking openly, and violence and use of weapons that occur in public places has increased, writes Aftonbladet .
Few women dare to move out in Husby center in the evening, according to the report.
Attack with weapons, stones and hand grenades
Just a half hour drive away is the Royal Palace in Stockholm, has emerged society where common regulations do not apply.
"In those areas there are criminal gangs that determine rules of the game", says Alvarsjø.
"What meetings police in these areas?"
"We are met by stone-throwing when we go out on patrol. The same happens with the rescue services that firefighters and ambulances. They never travel without taking the police is in place. They arrive first, then they stop outside the area to make sure police have secured it, even if they are on emergency," says Alvarsjø.
"Just last week, a police patrol fired [gun]. It also happened that someone has thrown grenade on patrols. The police bus that was subjected to grenade attack, was thank goodness armored. Had it not been there, we had a large number of dead policemen in the bus."
The attacks led to the police never attending a call-out with only one patrol car in the affected areas. They must be better prepared.
"Criminals have scouts out which reports when the police come in.S o they have prepared a stock of such stones and iron bars as they throw at us when we arrive. Even Molotov cocktails they have thrown at us," saying Alvarsjø.
"Why they thrust out police?"
"They want the mark that they have control in these areas," says Alvarsjø.
Image - Number of torched cars in Sweden 1999-2013. The effects of a liberal immigration policy? Social unrest.
"Gang land" territories:
"They throw stones to intimidate law enforcement, to say that it is their area. It's territory it's about," says one of the guards who was hit by a rock at the subway station in Husby.
Police: "I can never go out without a bullet-proof vest."
It becomes evening in the Stockholm suburbs. Police inspector Biljana Flyberg checks that service weapon is properly in the holster, and dishes on his uniform.
"I have bulletproof vest on me. I can never go to work here without the bulletproof vest," she says.
Flyberg is the leader neighborhood police team in Rinkeby, Tensta and Husby.
"It is very much weapons in circulation in certain parts of our territories. I can not describe it as a war zone, but the criminals are starting to become more and more equipped. We are working very actively to take weapons from them," says Flyberg.
She makes sure that helmets and other safety equipment is readily available in the police car before she and her colleagues starts on evening patrol in the affected areas.
Armed and equipped:
Police carry guns, have the bulletproof vest and wearing a helmet when they patrol in the congested Stockholm suburbs.
"In the exposed areas is distrust in society widespread, and there are more places reflected in the police are not welcome in the area. Police experiencing everyday that police cars vandalized, police and other social attack, and collects a lot of people when the police intervene in a situation, which may cause insecurity for the officials, "states the report Rikspolisens.
- It is very much stone throwing, tells Flyberg.
- And there is much "police fishing": Some are calling in a false alarm to get the police to the area. When they lie in ambush and throwing stones at police coming.
- Why do they do it?
- They are dissatisfied with society. And we represent the community, says Flyberg.
Chased away during the interview
Tino Sanandaji believes Swedish politicians do not dare acknowledge
that immigration and integration policy has been botched.
The Swedish economist Tino Sanandaji, who has completed the latest count of exclusion areas, calling them a ticking bomb.
"If it goes poorly in school now for a large part of a generation, this is going to continue as an echo in labor statistics for decades to come," says Sanandaji, a researcher at the Stockholm School of Economics.
Image
Immigrant hoodlums in "no go" zones:
Police are notified about a group of young people standing and throwing stones and glass at a school. When the police come, the boys all under 15, begin runinning - police pursuit.
Sanandaji believes the hazardous areas shows that Sweden has failed integration.
NRK meet him in a cafe in the middle of Husby, where over 80 percent of residents have a foreign background, half of Asia and Africa, accordingRikspolisens report .
"Immigration to Sweden has had positive aspects, but also some negative. There have been negative economic and social consequences, as Sweden has failed integration," says Sanandaji.
He points to a negative spiral: When immigrants come, they are not adequately integrated, have difficulty finding a job, ports thus the lower part of the social ladder, and friction in society increases.
"When the proportion of low-income groups increases, differences and frustration in society. Sweden is the country where inequality has increased the most since the 1980s," says Sanandaji.
He is interrupted. A young masked man inside the cafe shouting against him. Sanandaji tries to calm him down.
"I 'm not painting your area black. I'm not talking about Husby. I'm talking about integration," he said to the young man.
But the boy and his comrades will not give up. They become more aggressive and try to take NRK camera.
"Stop filming. "e'll go now," says Sanandaji.
The masked boys chasing him and NRK team out of the cafe .
"No interview here in Husby! You can not go where you want!
Driven away: A group of masked young men chasing NRK team and researcher the interviews out of the cafe.
"No interview here in Husby! Bang bang bang!" shouts the young men.
"It is tabu pointing out problems."
NRK and researcher must evacuate from Husby and continue the interview in a quieter area outside town.
That was an example that it is the local groups' rules apply only. Cafe staff had nothing against us being there. It was fine for the other guests, but this youth gang ... they decided that we should not be there," says Sanandaji about the incident.
He believes the problems of parallel societies in Sweden has increased partly as a result of there being a great debate about immigration [and no action].
"It has been taboo to point out problems. Many have swept the problems of exclusion under the carpet and called those who are talking about this, "racist". But who is left with the problems? It is the youngsters," says Sanandaji.
"School results in these areas is catastrophic, and the labor market is even worse. We've got a huge polarized society. Nearly all Riksdag politicians live in fine white areas. They live in a kind of bubble saying, 'What are people complaining about? It's never been better.' It is difficult to reverse the policy, for then one must admit that much of what has been done, has been a disaster," he says.
Sweden... The "new look" socialist state.
Image