Rioting in Swedish No-Go Zone Sparks Debate

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but it only took 3 days to make him right

Cars were set on fire, police were pelted with stones and civilians were beaten up as violent clashes broke out between rioters and law enforcement in the Stockholm district of Rinkeby on Monday night.

Police say seven or eight vehicles were torched in the suburb of Sweden’s capital following unrest in the area, which has a high immigrant population. It’s unclear if any immigrants were involved in the incident.

The violence was reportedly instigated after police arrested a wanted person at a metro station in Rinkeby at around 8pm. Police say between 30-50 people were involved in the disturbances.

Large crowds gathered and several cars were engulfed in flames as firefighters battled blazing wrecks while strong winds whipped flames in all directions.

A police officer was injured during the fracas, forcing law enforcement to fire several warning shots, according to Swedish public service broadcaster SVT.

No injuries were reported as a result of the shots.

The riot has prompted a heated online debate

over what constitutes a ‘no-go zone.’

Any debate in Sweden regarding Islamization is a good thing. There needs to be an end to the conspiracy of silence by the police, government and media.

Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet traced the rise of the ‘no-go’ tag, previously used in the media to describe the area affected by Monday’s riots, Rinkeby, to the publication of a Swedish police report on disadvantaged suburbs.

The December 2015 report did not specifically use the phrase ‘no-go area’, however, and in the wake of Monday’s disturbances, a Swedish journalist prompted an in-depth online debate about the use and accuracy of the term.

Rinkeby, an area in Stockholm, was the scene of street disturbances on Monday. According to police, an arrest escalated into stone-throwing at patrol units and an “officer was hit in the arm and slightly injured”. Police fired warning shots to disperse the crowd and say no injuries were reported as a result of these shots.

Following widespread coverage of overnight trouble in Stockholm, Ivar Arpi, a writer for Svenska Dagbladet, posed the ‘no-go zone’ question on Twitter:

Translation: “What do you think of the concept? What is missing, what catches?"

Swedish police have denied that there are ‘no-go zones’ in the country, reports Sverige Radio. But the term has provoked an outpouring of opinion online. “It is seriously misleading because it really means something else,” said Swedish journalist Daniel Wiklander.

Twitter users questioned whether the term correctly described areas in Sweden or if its use should be restricted to commentary about war zones. Others asked if the phrase was being misused to target and marginalise poorer urban areas.

“I understand the concept [as] the police don't go in there. Such areas are not as well known in Sweden.”

“I think that semantics are important, as Sweden's situation is discussed in international media and [they] like to use def no-go zones. In the United States no go zones mean a place where police don’t go without a very large [group]”

“‘No-go’ signals war zone and is perhaps too strong”

“In my view, [a no-go area] a neighborhood where law enforcement and health care cannot move freely without threats and residents take the law into their own hands.”

“Worth [looking] up what sort of neighborhoods get the stamp in terms of social class, crime, life of the inhabitants, etc.”

“It captures a feeling, but misses the reality.”

The discussion on ‘no go’ terminology came as Swedish opposition politician Annie Loof attacked government cuts and called for “more police & new legislation” for poorer areas.