Two weeks before the election in Sweden on 11 September, the prime minister is confronted with the problem the country has with criminals who are ravaging certain areas. A father in the district of Årby in Eskilstuna found his four-year-old son injured in his mother’s arms, after he ran outside when he heard several shots on Friday evening. – How can we live in a place where children risk being shot on a playground? There is no security anymore, says the father to Dagens Nyheter. The son was hit in the stomach by a ricochet and a woman in the playground was also hit by the shots. The boy was bandaged at the hospital, and after two hours the family were allowed to go home. – We can confirm that they were most likely not the target, the police say at a press conference on Saturday. – It is a perpetrator who has been completely reckless, at a time when there have been people around, say the police. The shooting took place in an area with several residential buildings, and therefore a playground. Eskilstuna is located around ten miles west of Stockholm. The city has over 100,000 inhabitants and problems with violence in several areas. 19 worst-hit areas In a police report from October last year, Swedish police state that there are 61 “vulnerable areas” in Sweden. 3 of the 61 areas are located in Eskilstuna. But otherwise, the problem is spread over several parts of southern Sweden, with weight in and around Stockholm. Vulnerable areas are geographically defined areas characterized by low socio-economic status, where the criminals have an impact on the local community. The police divide the 61 problem areas into three categories. The number of “particularly vulnerable areas” is 19. That is, areas where the criminal influence is the greatest. These areas are described as “difficult or almost impossible” for the police to carry out their mission. The situation is considered acute. Arguments about the violence problem When the Social Democrats presented their election program on Thursday, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said the following, according to SVT: – It is a problem that we can give any amount to, for example, Moderaterna-led municipalities, which ignore the risk reports in vulnerable areas. Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson held a press conference on Saturday in Eskilstuna. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT / NTB The Moderates are the country’s second largest party in terms of mandates in the Riksdag. On Saturday, several party leaders visited Eskilstuna. Among them were Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson (Social Democrats) and the Moderates’ Ulf Kristersson. Kristersson believes that the state has lost control and that the current government has failed to reverse the trend of violence. Ulf Kristersson at the crime scene. He grew up not far away. Photo: Per Karlsson/TT / NTB He tells Göteborgs-Posten that a new government is a prerequisite for breaking the spiral of violence. – A new government will hunt down these people until they are all locked up or expelled from the country, uncompromisingly and ruthlessly. These gangs must leave Sweden, says Kristersson to the newspaper. Blame it on demographics Prime Minister Andersson is confronted with his own statements that the Moderates overlook the problems. SVT’s excavation group Uppdrag granskning has indeed investigated how the development has been in the problem areas – and which political party governs there. Moderaterna-led municipalities have significantly more areas of positive development than the prime minister’s Social Democrats, Uppdrag granskning’s mapping shows. 21 areas have seen positive development. 18 of them are in Moderaterna-governed municipalities. The Christian Democrats’ party leader Ebba Busch and the party’s legal policy spokesperson Andreas Carlson visit the Årby residential area in Eskilstuna on Saturday. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT / NTB Magdalena Andersson now says that in her statement she was mainly referring to the city of Stockholm, and she believes that the voting pattern is such that there are greater problems in cities where the Social Democrats rule. – On average, the Moderaterna-led municipalities probably have better conditions than the Social Democratic-led municipalities. This is what the voting pattern looks like, says the Prime Minister. – We are not a zoo Mayor of Eskilstuna Jimmy Jansson, who represents the Social Democrats, is frustrated by the situation with the shooting in Eskilstuna. But he is also very critical of his colleagues who visited the city on Saturday. – We are not a zoo, we are not a safari that you can go to and watch when things have gone badly. I expect Sweden’s Riksdag to start acting and do so jointly, says Jansson according to SVT.
ttn-69
– There is no security anymore – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
