Two municipal workers dressed in yellow vests measure the hole in Rinkebyplein, just next to the fountain, to put new tiles in it. The old ones were thrown at police officers last Friday, after the far-right politician Magnus Paludan burned a Quran here.
The action by the Danish-Swedish politician led to half an hour of rioting around the central square in Rinkeby, a suburb of Stockholm, on Good Friday. According to the police, men, women and children of about 12 years old turned against the police. Seven protesters were arrested.
More riots in other Swedish cities followed later in the day and over the weekend. In total, 26 police officers and 14 demonstrators were injured, 20 police vehicles were destroyed or set on fire. Quran burner Paludan did not show up over the weekend, but riots broke out in places where he would go. On Monday, the police blamed criminal youths from youth gangs who allegedly attacked police officers.
That analysis is not shared by everyone on the sun-drenched Rinkebyplein the day after Easter. ‘The police want more money and manpower and are using the riots for their own agenda. We are used to that here’, says Abdikarim Sharif (44), born in Somalia, who works here as a teaching assistant at a school. ‘Rinkeby is always portrayed as bad by politicians and journalists, but it is very friendly here. Sure there are drug dealers, but who buys those drugs? Those are the rich from the rest of the city.’
Sharif, who is a Muslim, condemns both Paludan’s action and the riots that followed. He learned of the disturbances when he turned on the news. ‘Had I known about it, I would have gone demonstrating with the Quran in hand. At such a moment you have to show that such a provocative action has no effect.’
respect faith
Nevertheless, Sharif condemns the police, because they gave permission for the demonstration. “Freedom of speech is important, but in this case they should have known it would cause unrest. Look, I know how to demonstrate calmly, but when you’re young it’s hard to give your anger a place.’
Many Christians in the neighborhood also think that Paludan should not have been given a platform. “There are millions of Muslims in the world, you have to respect their faith,” says Amaniel Zerai (44), who is drinking coffee on a bench next to the pram with his fourteen-month-old son in it. Twenty years ago he came to Sweden from Eritrea. ‘Freedom of speech is important, but if it poses a threat, you should say no. They did that in Denmark too.’
The Quran burnings have been a trademark of Paludan for years, who has a Danish mother and a Swedish father. He lives in Denmark, where he worked as a lawyer before founding his anti-foreigner party Stram Kurs (Strakke Koers). In his home country, he was convicted of hate speech and had already been banned from demonstrating for a while after riots broke out in Copenhagen’s suburbs. In the last elections in Denmark, his party took 1.8 percent of the vote, not enough for the electoral threshold. Now he wants to participate in the Swedish elections in September and he is on the campaign trail with Qurans and spirits. For the maximum effect of his actions, he selects neighborhoods with many (Islamic) migrants, such as Rinkeby.
Actually, the term immigrant neighborhood for districts like Rinkeby is an understatement. When the metro arrives in Rinkeby, all native Swedes have got off. The adjacent square is populated by the elderly, market vendors and passers-by from countries such as Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. You can often only pay in cash at the shops on the square – something that is not common in many other parts of the city. The coffee costs 2 euros, a bargain.
Drug trafficking and gang violence
Neighborhoods like Rinkeby are plagued by high unemployment, drug trafficking and gang violence. “A friend of mine has been mugged three times,” says Zerai, who is a cleaner for a large DIY chain. Now he is on parental leave. ‘We are saving to buy a house in another neighbourhood. It’s not good for children here.’
The only non-migrant on the square turns out to be a journalism student from the prosperous Täby district. Gustava Söder, 25, has been sent here to ask teenagers what they think about the protests. She hasn’t succeeded yet, most students don’t feel like talking about it. Söder also finds it difficult to understand the police, because they approved the Koran manifestation at the last minute last week. The students, who check police reports daily, saw on Thursday that a political action would take place. ‘The problem is that there was absolutely no time for organizations to properly prepare a counter-demonstration. Then the protest might have been peaceful.’
According to the student, Sweden has a good law that defines the limits of freedom of expression. ‘You can say almost anything, only inciting violence and threatening minorities is punishable. I think Paludan’s actions fall under the second, but that is something that should be tested by the court.’
Police said on Tuesday that the situation in Rinkeby is good again and that neighborhood agents have been working to restore trust. ‘Nevertheless, we must of course also get to the bottom of what happened here. Although it turned out well given the circumstances, we did have a violent riot,” Police Chief Toni Mellblom told the newspaper. Dagens Nyheter†
According to student Söder, it is too easy to blame criminal youths, as the police did during a press conference on Monday. “People were just really angry too.” Behind her, the workmen have finished laying the tiles. Now only the fountain, which has been off for a long time, still needs to be repaired.