Struggling with her tears, a woman gave the Samhällsnytt news site a detailed account of her ordeal on the Stockholm underground on Friday. A man, leaving his friends behind, took a seat right next to her and began touching her. When she told him to go away, he first called her a slut and then hit her, while laughing.
He was soon joined by three of his buddies, Natalie said, leaving her against four young men, one presumably from Africa and three others of Arab descent. The woman tried to get away from the carriage, but the gang blocked her way and began punching her and repeatedly calling her a whore. Natalie screamed for help in vain but no one intervened, even though several passengers were travelling on the train.
The men not only hit but also kicked Natalie, who was laready on the floor, and they also threatened to rape and kill her. Although the woman told her assailants that the train’s surveillance cameras kept recording the attack, one of the gang members simply showed his finger to the cameras.
Eventually, the woman managed to break loose from her attackers and take a picture of one of the them. She told the portal that ten years ago there were no such incidents in Sweden, but they have become more frequent by today.
In Sweden, crimes related to migrant gangs and immigrant communities are on the rise. As part of a new trend, gangs are increasingly made up of second-generation migrants, which is creating a new culture in no-go zones.
Linda Staaf, head of the intelligence unit at the Swedish National Operations Department, says many second-generation migrants grow up in Sweden feeling alienated from society, which is why they tend to join the gangs. Although their parents would never have behaved this way in their home country, young people’s perceptions have changed in this regard.
Besides, the proportion of young migrants appears to growing in the ranks of criminals. Official statistics suggest that youngsters aged between 8 to 14 commit an increasing number of crimes, many of which are not simple shoplifting ordeals but serious robberies.