Sweden masked gang ‘targeted migrants’ in Stockholm

“This is why, today, 200 Swedish men gathered to take a stand against the north African ‘street children” who are running rampage in and around the capital’s central station’.

After the attack the Swedish Resistance Movement, a neo-Nazi group, issued a statement claiming that the groups had “cleaned up criminal immigrants from North Africa that are housed in the area around the Central Station”.

According to news reports, hundreds of masked men marched through Stockholm’s main train station on Friday evening and reportedly beat up refugees and anyone who didn’t appear to be ethnically of Swedish origin.

Several outlets have reported a possible affiliation between the masked group and a notorious Swedish football gang, but police have not confirmed the connection.

It comes amid heightened tension in Sweden over the migrant crisis.

Three further people were briefly detained for public order offenses and one more faces charges for carrying a knife. All had been released by the next morning.

Stockholm authorities said in a statement (in Swedish) the group was handing out leaflets using the intent to incite individuals to handle offenses.

A 16-year-old called Christian told the newspaper he hid in a supermarket after being hit in the face.

Fredrik Nylén, of Stockholm police, was quoted by the newspaper as saying the men were thought to be members of hooligan gangs linked to Stockholm football teams.

Stockholm police spokesperson Towe Stagg said the men, who were seen wearing all-black balaclavas and armbands, “gathered with the goal of attacking refugee children”. A 15-year-old asylum seeker was arrested in Molndal, near Gothenburg, over the murder.

Sweden has been accepting refugees and asylum-seekers at a rate of nearly 10,000 a week over the past year, and has one of the highest numbers of arrivals per capita in the European Union according to the Guardian.

But the small country’s resources have been increasingly strained: The Swedish government recently announced it was preparing the expulsion of up to 80,000 refugees. Most refugees heading for Europe are fleeing violence in countries including Libya, Syria and Iraq. Late a year ago, Sweden also ended its open-border policy and reintroduced border controls.