The statements of the Swedish Prime Minister have caused an impression Ulf Christerson last week for failing to integrate immigrants into the once open Swedish society. He also succeeded against “the naivety and recklessness that led us here. Reckless immigration and failure to integrate led us” to this situation, he said characteristically.

The Swedish prime minister, head of the Moderates, struck a deal with the far-right last year to come to power. In parliament, it has allied itself with the far-right, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party, which is not part of the government, however.

“Crime has reached a level we have never seen before. The situation is serious in Uppsala and throughout the country,” said Uppsala official Katarina Bowal. “It’s possible that this is connected to the infighting” nationwide between criminal gangs, he added.

Greater involvement of the military

On Thursday the Swedish Prime Minister announced the largest activation of the military in order to assist the police in their work and end the violence.

“I’m on your side, we’re going after the gangs and we’re going to beat them. They will be held accountable to justice,” Christerson emphasized during his televised speech.

He estimated that “Swedish law has no provisions about gang warfare and child soldiers, but we’ve started the process to change that.”

The Social Democrats (left) and the Sweden Democrats (far right) proposed mobilizing the army to assist the police in their work.

An unprecedented wave of violence

Sweden has long been plagued by violence linked to rival gangs and gangs fighting to control the drug and arms trade.

This violence has escalated in recent months, due to a confrontation that has broken out within one of these gangs. Incidents of shootings and explosions are almost a daily occurrence.

According to a tally by state television network SVT, 12 people were killed in shootings and explosions in September, the highest number recorded in a single month in four years.

On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, three homicides were recorded, the victims of which were, among others, an 18-year-old young man and a 25-year-old woman.