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Swedish PM summons army & police chiefs as gang violence increases
Eleven fatal shootings in September spark outrage, prompting calls for military and police intervention along with government action on gun control
As Sweden grapples with an alarming surge in gang-related violence, the country's largest opposition party has called upon the government to deploy the military in an effort to quell the escalating crisis.
Eleven individuals have lost their lives to gun violence this month.
The latest incidents include two separate shootings in Stockholm on Wednesday and a deadly explosion in Uppsala in the early hours of Thursday, which claimed the life of a woman in her 20s believed to be an innocent bystander.
Swedish Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson expressed her deep concern, stating, "This is not Sweden, this is not how Sweden is supposed to be."
Andersson, whose party faced criticism for its handling of crime in the previous election, urged the prime minister to reconsider the law and allow the military to collaborate with the police in tackling the growing influence of criminal gangs.
She highlighted that the military could assist in patrolling and contribute technical expertise to address the crisis effectively.Swedish police estimate that approximately 30,000 individuals in the country have direct involvement or ties to gang-related activities.
The escalating violence, once confined primarily to major urban centers, has now encroached upon smaller towns where such incidents were once a rarity.
The country points to the recent double homicide in Sandviken, where two were killed and two injured in a bar shooting earlier this week, to explain the deployment of military forces to quell the situation.
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