Residents in a suburb of Sweden’s capital clashed with police late Monday, according to a new report.
The incident occurred in Rinkeby, an area about 7.2 miles northwest of Stockholm’s City Hall that is predominantly made up of immigrants, The New York Times said Tuesday,
Police spokesman Lars Bystrom said authorities were summoned at 8:18 p.m. Monday to Rinkeby’s transit station after officers made a drug-related arrest there. Responders were set upon by local residents, forcing a police officer to fire a live round of ammunition as a warning.
{mosads}“No one was hit, but it had the intended effect of clearing the scene so that police could make an arrest,” Bystrom said.
Bystrom said the demonstrations intensified, drawing up to 70 people, including 20 to 30 masked men throwing stones and other objects, before police restored order around 12:15 a.m. Tuesday.
A photojournalist was reportedly injured in the fracas, which officials claimed is infrequent but not unprecedented in areas such as Rinkeby.
Rinkeby is an area of approximately 16,000 people, the Times said, the overwhelming majority of whom are immigrants, particularly Arabs and Somalis.
Sweden’s immigration policies are under global scrutiny following President Trump’s remarks about its struggles with migrants last Saturday.
“When you look at what’s happening in Germany, when you look at what’s happening last night in Sweden – Sweden!” he said during a rally in Florida. “Who would believe this? Sweden! They took in large numbers, they’re having problems like they never thought possible.”
Trump did not elaborate further, leaving the Swedish Embassy in Washington to ask the State Department if he was referencing a particular incident.
The president then confirmed Sunday he was alluding to a Fox News story about crime rates and immigration in Sweden that aired Friday.
Trump on Monday defended his remarks, tweeting that the “FAKE NEWS media” has incorrectly claimed large-scale immigration is “working out just beautifully” in Sweden.
Patrik Derk, the district director of Rinkeby-Kista, the northernmost of the boroughs comprising the municipality of Stockholm, told the Times Monday’s incident does not prove Trump’s claims.
“This type of problems exists in most countries, even in the USA,” he said via phone Tuesday. “And we are managing these problems and will succeed with this. They’re complex problems.”