Sweden’s open border policy fueling mass crime, censorship: Report
A report from the research group Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) Brussels has found that Sweden’s open border policy is causing soaring crime rates and limits on freedom of expression.
Crime
According to the report’s data, three out of four murders in Sweden are committed by migrants, who are 2.5 times more likely to be crime suspects than Swedish natives. Even among the Swedes, those with migrant parents are three times more likely to be crime suspects than Swedes with Swedish-born parents, according to the Swedish Crime Prevention Council.
In 2014, however, Sweden began accepting waves of migrants as a show of “humanitarianism.” Rather than require the newcomers to integrate, then-Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told native Swedes to be more tolerant and “open their hearts.” A year later, the country allowed an unprecedented 163,000 asylum seekers to stream across its border.
Around 20% of Sweden’s population is now made up of migrants, most of whom come from Muslim countries like Afghanistan, Somalia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. As in other countries, the migrant influx has brought with it a spike in crime and gang violence.
In 2003, Sweden had one of the lowest gun violence rates per capita in Europe. In 2022, the number of per capita gun murders was 30 times higher than London’s. Last year, Sweden experienced nine times as many deadly shootings as its fellow Nordic countries — Denmark, Norway, and Finland — combined.
In 2018, there was an average of one bomb explosion every two days. In Malmö, Sweden’s third most populated city, there were 29 bombings in the first 10 months of 2019 alone.
Gang violence has also become prevalent in Sweden. As recently published in The Gold Report, an Iraqi native who lived in Sweden for 20 years fled back to his home country to escape the heavy crime rates.
“I moved to Sweden because it was a safe country. Now, I’m moving out of Sweden because it’s no longer safe,” he restaurateur, identified as Amin, said, adding: “It is much safer in Iraq than in Sweden.”
Censorship
The report, shared by Remix, also said the mass influx of migrants has restricted freedom of expression in Sweden. It cited the case of Rasmus Paludan, who burned a Quran in 2020 and sparked violent riots. In 2022, when Paludan threatened to repeat the act, rioters injured over 180 police officers in rampages.
In a similar case, a professor named Lars Vilks was forced to have 24/7 police protection after he drew a cartoon in 2007 that featured a dog with the face of Mohammed. A bounty was placed on his head and he was eventually killed in 2021 along with two policemen.
Elites, including political and religious leaders, were quick to condem Vilks for “Islamophobia” over the cartoon and accuse him of intolerance toward Muslims.
“Freedom of expression in our country is under relentless pressure from certain migrant groups trying to have it dismantled for the benefit of multicultural ‘tolerance’,” the report noted, adding that the migrants are not bringing freedom-oriented values with them.
“If Sweden suddenly were to harbour a substantial French minority, we would soon have plenty of red wine and chansons; and so, when our country experiences a large influx of individuals from regions with no democratic tradition and without freedom of expression, we will soon experience attacks against our freedom of expression.”
