The Gang Violence

Petteri Orpo/Peter Hummelgaard/The explosion in Storvreta. AP/TT  

The Gang Violence|The Foxtrot Conflict  

Denmark and Finland: Are ready to help Sweden  

Danish police are ready to support their Swedish colleagues in the fight against gang violence. This is what the country's Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard says according to the news agency Ritzau, writes SVT Nyheter.  

- The current situation in Sweden with explosions and shootings on an almost daily basis is deeply worrying.  

So far, no request for help has been received from the Swedish police, adds the minister. 

Finland is also ready to help, says Prime Minister Petteri Orpo to Ilta-Sanomat according to TT.  

He says that he is "very concerned" about the "extremely difficult" situation, and that he is in regular contact with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M). 

- They carefully review the situation and consider new measures. It goes without saying that if Finland can help, we are ready to do so.

Soha Saad when she graduated. Private  

Gang violence|The explosion in Storvreta 

24-year-old teacher Soha died in the explosion: "So unfair" 

Soha Saad, 24, died in the explosion early Thursday morning in Fullerö in Storvreta outside Uppsala. 

- I miss her and love her so much, says her mother to SVT Nyheter Uppsala.  

Her daughter had no connection to criminal gangs. A person who is listed in the house next door and is related to gang leader Rawa Majid is believed to have been the intended target, according to Expressen's information.  

Soha Saad was a newly graduated elementary school teacher and in the fall had been accepted to a master's program in child and youth science, UNT writes. 

- It is so unfair. I am so angry and shocked and sad, says her teacher Véronique Simon, lecturer at Uppsala University.  

The day after a powerful detonation at an apartment building in Hässelby beach. Fredrik Sandberg/TT / TT 

News Agency The world's eyes on Sweden: "Wild West"  

A new narrative has been established about Sweden in other Nordic countries after the many recent shootings. The term "the Swedish state" is used in Norway and Denmark, among others, according to Sofia Bard, head of the unit for Sweden image analysis at the Swedish Institute. 

- We can state that the image of Sweden in the Nordics has been affected, she tells Expressen.  

But media outside the Nordics have also picked up on the escalated gang violence. Stockholm is called the "wild west" by the British Daily Mail and already last spring the American Wall Street Journal published an article with the headline "So peaceful Sweden became Europe's capital for gun murder". 

 

Hatzigeorgiou. Archive image. Anders Wiklund/TT / TT News Agency 

 

Gang violence|Society's response 

The Chamber of Commerce: Death a matter of fate for business  

 

The fight against serious gang crime is a matter of fate for the Swedish business community. This is claimed by the CEO of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, Andreas Hatzigeorgiou, who is now demanding a cross-block agreement, writes DN.  

 

Among other things, the act creates a worse investment climate, while Sweden's attractiveness as a leading country is challenged. 

 

- Business is following this development with horror, says Andreas Hatzigeorgiou to DN.  

 

He adds that it is a "fundamental issue for Sweden's long-term development".