https://samnytt.se/en-skam-for-svensk-polis-hard-internkritik-efter-skandalinsats-i-linkoping-och-norrkoping/
"A disgrace for the Swedish police" - harsh internal criticism after scandalous operations in Linköping and Norrköping.
After Thursday's police breakdown in Linköping and Norrköping, several police officers who participated in the operation are criticizing the police management, which they say was incompetent in the way it handled the operation. At the same time, national police chief Anders Thornberg is moving in to try to salvage the public's confidence in the agency, which has now been further dented.
As Samnytt has reported in several articles, full-scale riots were staged in so-called "vulnerable" immigrant areas in Linköping and Norrköping before Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan announced that he would hold a demonstration critical of Islam.
The police action ended in a breakdown, with the officers choosing to abandon their radios and flee. The cars were looted and vandalised by the rioters, who were then seen leaving the scene with police equipment and wearing stolen police uniforms. Several police officers were also injured by the violence of the Muslim migrants. The authorised demonstration could not take place.
Reactions from the public have been strongly critical, especially after several high-ranking police officers went public with the statement that it was in line with police policy not to confront the perpetrators of violence but instead to back away and hand over their cars. Now National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg is moving in to try to repair the damage to public confidence.
In a post on the police authority's website, Thornberg says that "what happened in Linköping and Norrköping is completely reprehensible and will never be accepted" and that "one of the most important tasks of the police is to ensure that people can use their constitutionally protected rights to demonstrate and express their opinion".
Furthermore, contrary to the officers who have previously spoken out, Thornberg makes it clear that it is misconduct for the police not to carry out their duties. "The police should [...] always intervene if a crime is committed," he states. He now promises that the authority he heads "will do our utmost to prosecute those involved in both the riots and the vandalism".
The operation "a disgrace for Swedish police"
Well-known freelance journalist Joakim Lamotte has been in contact with several police officers who were deployed to restore order in Linköping and Norrköping's immigrant areas, efforts that failed miserably. The internal criticism from off-duty police officers about how they were ordered to handle the situation is in some ways as harsh as the public's. One police officer describes the operation as "disastrous", another as "a disgrace for Swedish police".
On his Facebook page, Lamotte reproduces some of the critical comments he received in his conversations with police officers on the ground: - We came there with as many resources as possible from all over central Sweden. Several colleagues came there to help, we're talking how many police officers, but then they just had to wait and now they're going home without having done shit, without having cleaned up any of the areas. The police retreated and then they've been allowed to win.- We from the reinforcement were there afterwards but we have not been allowed to do anything. We just had to stand in a car park and wait with a few hundred other police officers.
- We first had a breaking point quite close to Skäggetorp when the antagonists approached. Then it was decided that we would back off immediately without confrontation and move the breakpoint even further away. Then we just stood there and stomped.
- I think it's absolutely horrible that a few hundred people with stones should win and that we police should just stand at a distance and watch. It's terrible that these suburban gangs are allowed to win and trample on Swedish police. What happened today was a disgrace for the Swedish police and I have many, if not all, colleagues who are so angry and disappointed that we were not allowed to do anything."
- The planning for this must have been abysmal. Maybe 15-20 AMF-equipped officers with extra protection and a few shields. The rest were ordinary cops with at best a helmet.