The increased violence in Sweden has been widely reported in the international media.
Times of India, AP, NRK, Sky News, New York Times and many more have highlighted the situation in Sweden in their reporting.
– It gets enormous attention, above all in the Nordics, but also in the US and major European media, says Elisabet Frerot, foreign reporter.
In twelve hours, three people have died in acts of violence in Stockholm and Uppsala. Eleven people have been shot dead in September, which is the deadliest month for gun violence in Sweden in nearly four years. And so far over 130 blasts have been carried out.
– The situation is inhumane, incomprehensible and limitless. Crime has reached a scale we have not seen before, says Catarina Bowall, head of command for the special event in Uppsala.
Blood and terror in one of Europe’s richest countries
And the increased violence has attracted international interest worldwide. But perhaps mainly in our Nordic neighboring countries, where there is great concern that the violence will spread beyond Sweden’s borders.
– TV4 has never been so inundated with requests where international media want to share images from Sweden, she says.
According to Frerot, the strongest headlines about the situation in Sweden come from the USA.
– There they describe Sweden as Europe’s murder capital, blood and terror in one of Europe’s richest countries and international media point to the segregation in Sweden that has been going on for some time, how young the people are and how the Swedish police seem to have completely lost control, she says.
Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M), commented on the situation on Thursday morning.
–– It is a deeply tragic development. I understand that people feel both anger, fear and sadness that we find ourselves where we do. The last 24 hours are beyond the worst that can be imagined in an open, free and decent society, he says.