Those revolting Swedes

If you read the Reuters headline — “Firebombs thrown at police in Stockholm riot” — experience will let you fill out the rest of the mysterious story without further effort. Reading the report is actually not much more informative. Some translation is required. Nevertheless, we can do it:

Police were attacked with firebombs and rocks in a poor suburb in Sweden’s capital late on Saturday, leading to the arrest of eleven young people for rioting and arson.

The events in Ragsved in southern Stockholm came after week-long riots in Husby on the other side of the capital in May last year when hundreds of cars were burnt as police battled immigrant youths after a Portuguese man was shot dead by police.

A police spokesman said it was too early to say who the perpetrators were this time, but that four of the eleven arrested were younger than 18.

“What is quite unusual here is that this was seemingly somewhat planned ahead,” police spokesman Kjell Lindgren said.

He said firebombs and piles of paving stones were already prepared when police arrived and the approximate 30 people behind the riot were reported to have been masked.

No people were harmed but around 10 cars were set on fire. Police cars were damaged and a Ragsved police office also saw some damage.

Well, who the heck are these revolting Swedes? Reuters performs its traditional dance around the subject:

Like Husby, Ragsved has a large immigrant population, and further violence in immigrant suburbs could help boost the far-right anti-immigration Sweden Democrats in snap elections in March next year.

Even by the standards of Reuters, this is lame. It’s a good thing we’ve become adept at translating its copy.

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