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Swedish PM Does Not Rule Out Use of Army to End Gang Violence

posted by janrinok on Monday February 26 2018, @07:34PM   
from the big-guns dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Sweden will do whatever it takes, including sending in the army, to end a wave of violence that has seen a string of deadly shootings, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said in Wednesday.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-violence/swedish-pm-does-not-rule-out-use-of-army-to-end-gang-violence-idUSKBN1F629L

Sweden's murder rate is relatively low in international terms, but gang violence has surged in recent years and Swedes are worried that the police are unable to cope.

In 2016, the latest year for which official statistics are available, 106 people were murdered in Sweden, a country of 10 million.

But Swedish TV reported there were over 300 shootings, mostly in turf battles between gangs over drugs, protection rackets and prostitution.

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Original Submission

• Re:Foreign Combatants vs Immigrants vs Citizens? Re:Foreign Combatants vs Immigrants vs Citizens? (Score: 3, Informative) by bob_super on Monday February 26 2018, @09:33PM (1 child)

  by bob_super (1357) on Monday February 26 2018, @09:33PM (#644215)

  The Swedes are presented with a situation that they hope to be temporary, so they use a resource that's available to deal with it.
  European countries don't have gun-toting cops at every street corner. They also don't have gung-ho brainwashed military nutjobs (exceptions happen) who only know their weapon as a way to handle problems.

  So you put the People serving in the military, and already on the payroll, in the street to protect the People and dissuade or stop some bad guys.
  That is not your "tolerance of the use of military force" threat. It's more humans on the ground assisting the cops.
  In a similar vein, when some nutjob attacked a military group patrolling in a Paris airport, that was treated as a police matter, and handled by civilian procedures and justice system.

  But you're apparently one of those many paranoids who will never believe that the people are not just always on the cusp of being oppressed by big bad government.

  Parent

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• Re:Foreign Combatants vs Immigrants vs Citizens? (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @02:49AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @02:49AM (#644416)

  So the police in the UK aren’t carrying guns now? Educate yourself.

  Parent