To be sure, we’ve spent quite a bit of time documenting what certainly appear to be deteriorating social conditions in Sweden, the country with the highest per capita rate of sheltered asylum seekers.
From a police cover up of the sexual assaults that allegedly took place at a youth festival and concert in central Stockholm’s Kungsträdgården last August to the murder of a 22-year-old refugee center worker by a Somali child migrant, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the country’s decision to take in 163,000 refugees last year may be set to tear Sweden’s social fabric apart.
Last week, Sweden announced it would likely deport some 80,000 refugees this year amid security fears. Following the announcement, some Swedes from the “football hooligan” scene took matters into their own hands and “rampaged” through the train station in central Stockholm on a mission to beat the “gangs” of Moroccan migrant children who have reportedly “taken over” the transportation hub.
Finally, we brought you “shocking” footage from inside a refugee center in Jonköping where an altercation between a staff member and the “ringleader” of the home’s teenage migrants devolved into a shrieking nervous breakdown.
Of course Sweden hasn’t turned into Syria and Stockholm still looks nothing like Mogadishu, despite the increasingly negative media coverage. In the interest of providing a balanced take on the story we bring you the following excerpts from “Sex Attacks And Fascism Are Not The New Swedish Norm,” by The Local's Editor Maddy Savage.
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From "Sex Attacks And Fascism Are Not The New Swedish Norm”
At 6.40am I stepped off a night train at Stockholm's central station after a weekend break in Swedish Lapland.
If you've been reading some of the international media coverage about my adopted city in recent days, you'd be forgiven for thinking I was risking my life.
On Friday night, newspapers, radio stations and television networks all over the world reported on a group of masked far-right demonstrators who appeared to be reacting to this presumed state of chaos. They beat up non-Swedes and vowed to give foreign teenagers living on the streets around Stockholm Central Station the “punishment they deserve”.
So did I feel scared arriving back in the Swedish capital? Absolutely not.
At Stockholm's main station. No sign of neo Nazis. Nor 'gangs' of migrants making it a 'no go zone' for women. pic.twitter.com/7OOFwpD3Ma
— Maddy Savage (@maddysavage) February 1, 2016
As I headed to catch the blue subway line home, morning commuters were travelling calmly into work, a cleaner was polishing an already glistening white floor and two security guards were strolling slowly out of a newsagent, sipping on their takeaway coffees. The main square outside was empty, save for two Swedish teenagers sharing a cigarette.
Sweden has spawned some alarming headlines lately. A teenager at a centre for unaccompanied refugees near Gothenburg was arrested on suspicion of murdering a 22-year-old woman who worked there. Police admitted covering up reports of multiple sex assaults at a music festival. Dozens of homes for asylum seekers have been set on fire.
However, it is crucial that these news stories are viewed in context. Immigration and integration are becoming increasingly thorny issues in Sweden, and the country's reputation as a beacon for openness and tolerance has taken a battering. But neither sex attacks by migrants nor radical racism are the new norm.
In 2015, as Sweden took in a record 163,000 asylum seekers, the number of reported rapes in the Nordic nation actually dropped by 12 percent compared to the previous year, according to figures released by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) in January. Meanwhile petty thefts dipped by two percent.
As for personal safety around Stockholm's central station, police were unable to immediately provide The Local with the number of reported assaults over the past 12 months. But a press officer, Lars Byström, insisted that tourists and residents alike should not feel under threat.
"Normally Stockholm is not a dangerous place to visit or to take a walk outside in. I think it is rather safe," he said.
Asked why one anonymous officer recently told Swedish television that he would not let his own family go near the station, he described his colleague's comments as "a little bit strange".
Neo-Nazi inspired activity – such as that witnessed on Friday in Stockholm – does appear to be on the rise. Yet a report by Swedish anti-racist foundation Expo last year suggested that membership of fascist organisations in Sweden has fallen.