“Violence a reality that many have lived with for a long time”

The shootings and explosions spread across the Stockholm area.

– It is a reality that many people in certain areas have lived in for a long time. No one has listened to the warnings and now the majority society is also affected, says the journalist and author Diamant Salihu.

The wave of violence in Greater Stockholm is exceptional: In less than a month, around 25 murders have been committed and the police in Stockholm have had to be reinforced with personnel from other parts of the country.

It is known that the shootings and explosions were committed by different gangs, in different conflicts. It is about drugs, power struggles, violations and personal conflicts.

Diamant Salihu, journalist at SVT, has described the gang conflicts around Järvafältet in his book “Tills alla dör”. Now he is completing a new book, about drug-trafficking networks, and sees how a couple of the networks are involved in the current conflicts. One of the networks is linked to a person called the Kurdish Fox, while a younger person is named as the leader of the other network. Both of these are, however, abroad, but for the fight over different drug markets in Sweden, explains Salihu.

– It is their running boys or soldiers who fight against each other.

Can be cooled

The acts of violence have occurred more and more often, and in more and more places in Stockholm with surrounding municipalities. The question is when the wave will slow down.

– This could go on until everyone dies, but we’ll see if the arrests made so far will have a chilling effect. When you go after relatives, it has become more personal, which can make this more difficult to handle, says Diamant Salihu.

He states that the shootings and explosions that affect the public in the form of anxiety and fear have been commonplace for a long time in certain areas.

– It is a reality that many people have lived with for a long time, and now we have to taste the consequences of this being allowed to continue. These are groupings that have a lot of capital. Then new territory conflicts also arise, says Diamant Salihu.

“Extremists of our time”

He describes the perpetrators of violence, the “soldiers”, as young and inexperienced, and therefore also extremely dangerous.

– These are young people who are not used to handling weapons, who don’t even shoot into the right gate. They can hit anyone because they are not used to handling weapons and explosives, which is extremely dangerous. They are also extremely indifferent, who do not think about the consequences, says Diamant Salihu.

TT: What is their driving force?

– The driving force for child soldiers is to gain status, to gain a context. It is like in any radical environment. They are the extremists of our time, who arm themselves, shoot and blow up to gain status and context, says Diamant Salihu.

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