Migrant integration has failed and created parallel societies and gang violence, Swedish PM admits
- Sweden accepted the most migrants per capita in the EU in 2015 crisis
- Magdalena Andersson said Islamism and extremism have since festered
- She said: 'We live in the same country but in completely different realities'
- Violent riots erupted in Sweden this month after a politician burned a Quran
Sweden's migrant integration policy has failed, leading to parallel societies and gang violence, the country's prime minister said today.
The Nordic country took in more people per capita than any other EU nation during the migrant crisis in 2015.
But PM Magdalena Andersson blasted the after-effects of the open-doors policy today, saying: 'We live in the same country but in completely different realities.'
Many Swedes were shocked earlier this month after violent riots left more than 100 police injured.
The violence erupted after a Swedish-Danish politician burned the Quran at a rally and sought to hold more in several immigrant-dominated neighbourhoods.
A bus burns as a police officer watches on after riots in Malmo, in the south of Sweden, sparked by an anti-Islam Danish politician carrying out Koran-burning stunts around the country
Many Swedes were shocked earlier this month after violent riots left more than 100 police injured
Andersson blamed criminals and said both Islamism and right-wing extremism had been allowed to fester in Sweden, in unusually frank and self-critical comments.
'Segregation has been allowed to go so far that we have parallel societies in Sweden. We live in the same country but in completely different realities,' Andersson told a news conference.
The number of people in Sweden born abroad has doubled in the last two decades to 2 million, or a fifth of the population.
Andersson's Social Democrats have been in power for 28 of the last 40 years, including the last eight.
She said she wanted to introduce local youth crime boards where social services and police could collaborate.
Magdalena Andersson blamed criminals and said both Islamism and right-wing extremism had been allowed to fester in Sweden
Dozens of people were arrested across Sweden this month after riots erupted
She also proposed tools to make sure that youths stayed in schools and off the streets without the consent of parents.
'Integration has been too poor at the same time as we have had a large immigration. Society has been too weak, resources for the police and social services have been too weak,' she said.
Sweden, which holds a general election later this year, has radically tightened its immigration policies since the migrant influx in 2015.
It now has one of the bloc's most restrictive policies.
Human rights organisation Amnesty International has been critical of Sweden's tightening of policies, claiming it is causing human suffering and making integration even harder for immigrants.
Sweden, which holds a general election later this year, has radically tightened its immigration policies
In the riots this month, dozens were arrested after clashes with police which saw cars and buses torched.
The rallies were sparked by anti-immigration and anti-Islam group Hard Line, led by the Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan
Paludan, a lawyer and a YouTuber who intends to stand in Swedish legislative elections in September but does not yet have the necessary number of signatures to secure his candidature, is currently on a 'tour' of Sweden.
The 40-year-old is visiting neighbourhoods with large Muslim populations where he wants to burn copies of the Muslim holy book Koran as Muslims observe the holy month of Ramadan.
In Malmo, where he burned a Koran, fire erupted in a school, officials said.
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