Residents of the Swedish “no go zone” of Husby are taking law enforcement into their own hands, forming a “National Guard” of citizens to combat rising criminality and homeless drug addiction after Swedish police all but abandoned the neighborhood.
Husby, a suburb on the outskirts of the Swedish capital Stockholm, hosts a migrant population of around 90 percent, and has seen the police vacate the area due to its skyrocketing criminality. A large number of homeless drug addicts, many of whom are illegal migrants, have moved into the area, and have taken to discarding used needles in the streets and committing burglaries and robberies to fund their addictions.
Local residents who complain to the authorities are ignored, with one local 18-year-old telling the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet:
“We have made several reports to the police, but it feels like we have not been taken seriously, because there has been no change. So we decided to find these addicts and try to have a dialogue with them.”
“We’ve tried to talk to them to get them to stop robbing and stealing, but these people are on different substances and drugs and they haven’t been receptive to dialogue. Many of them have also been armed and once one of them attacked us. Then we fought back,” he added. A local NGO has reported that crime rates have declined since the vigilantes began patrolling the area.
Sweden has been notorious for its inability to integrate its large migrant population. Instead, the government has chosen to ignore or denounce people who highlight the issue, such as professors from Lund University facing prosecution for a study that found that immigrants are “disproportionately overrepresented” in rape cases.
