not only muslims - assyrians revolt in Sweden

Submitted by Martin (Sweden), Nov 8, 2005 at 11:42

Dear Dr. Pipes,

I have read your reflections about the revolution in France and also the link on the violence in Aarhus, Denmark. There is no doubt that militant islam is an important factor in the uprisings seen around Europe.

However, I would like to add that rioters are not only muslims. In the township Ronna in the swedish city Södertälje, riots broke out between police and christian assyrians earlier in this autumn. Assyrians are without comparison the main part of the immigrants in Södertälje. About 18.000, out of 80.000 inhabitants in Södertälje are assyrians. The mayor of Södertälje is also assyrian. Assyrians have been considered to be a relatively well integrated immigrant group in Sweden.

The rioting started when a native swedish girl were harassed by a group of assyrian youngsters outside a store. The girl retreated inside the store and phoned her father. When the father arrived by car, the situation got hostile and the police was called in. When the police arrived, it was met with hostility by an assyrian crowd, also persons of various age. The crowd claimed that the police had nothing to do in the area, this was "their" territory. rioting broke out between the police and the crowd. Three persons were arrested. Som hours after the riots, shots from an automatic rifle was fired into the police office in Ronna. The day after the riot, some young assyrians in Ronna are interviewed in the largest swedish news paper, Dagens Nyheter (DN). They claimed that those who fired into the police station "made justice" and "the police had to blame itself". A few days later, the car of the harassed girls family was torched.
My description is based from the reports from some big swedish media.

So the conclusion is: there is not only muslim imigrnats, but also christian immigrants that are invilved in violent protests. I also note that both the yong protesters in Denmark and in Ronna claimed that they ruled their area and that the police had nothing there to do. It is also interesting that protests erupted despite the fact that assyrians are relatively well-integrated and has some political power (the mayor and at least one of the leaders of the opposition parties in Södertälje are assyrians).

Best regards

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