During Saturday evening, something detonated in a gate at Östermalm in central Stockholm. Now a man has been arrested on suspicion of public destruction and violation of the Act on Flammable and Explosive Goods.
One of those who commented on the incident is tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has been given a role in Trump’s incoming presidential administration.
“149 bombings in Sweden last year?”, writes Musk and refers to a post made by journalist Nick Sortor about the explosion.
Sortor writes: “THIS is why we need mass deportations in the US. Can ANYONE imagine 149 bombings in New York, in a single year? Because that is what awaits.”
103 blasts so far this year
In 2023, 149 explosions were reported in Sweden, figures from the police show. That was an increase from 90 the year before.
– There is a lot going on in the criminal gangs now. It is a high level of conflict. They see it as a success to use explosive devices to get their message across or to be scared, said Malin Nygren, head of the police’s national bomb data center at the time.
This year, there have been 107 explosions up to and including December 3, according to the police’s ongoing statistics.
7 years ago “last night in Sweden”
It is not the first time that crime in Sweden has been noticed in American domestic politics.
Four weeks into his first presidential term, Donald Trump held a mass meeting in Florida where his statement about “last night in Sweden” received a lot of attention.
– You saw what happened in Sweden last night, Trump said and continued:
– They took in a large number (refugees and migrants, ed. note) and have problems they never thought possible.
Trump then clarified, saying he was referring to a feature on Fox News about immigration in Sweden. Under the hashtag “#lastnightinsweden”, several joked about what they did during the evening that Trump referred to.
The statement also sparked political debate in Sweden. The SD leaders Mattias Karlsson and Jimmie Åkesson wrote, among other things, an article in the Wall Street Journal that Trump was right, and the then Minister of Justice Morgan Johansson (S) counterattacked in the same newspaper.