Swedish Riots Rage For Fourth Night -Thursday May 23,2013

The disturbances appear to have been sparked on Monday May 13,2013 by the police killing(shot inside his apartment) a 69-year-old man wielding a machete in the suburb of Husby(a poor suburb of about 11,000 people, mostly immigrants and refugees from Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Somalia) which prompted accusations of police brutality. The riots then spread to other poor Stockholm suburbs.

Swedish police say they have launched an internal investigation into the case. But some demonstrators and local residents said they are frustrated at seeing police use what they consider to be excessive force in the deprived suburbs with seeming impunity.

Since Sunday, hundreds of young residents of the suburbs of Husby, Jakobsberg, Hagsatra, Skarholmenset and others set dozens of cars on fire, damaged buildings — including schools and a police station — and battled with police.

Sweden’s English news site reported on May 22,2013 that 30 cars were torched in areas across the south and west of Stockholm on what was a third consecutive night of rioting.

Rioters defied a call for calm from the country's prime minister, going on the rampage after nightfall damaging stores, schools, a police station and an arts and crafts centre in the four days of violence.

The reason is very simple. Unemployment, the housing situation, disrespect from police," said Rouzbeh Djalaie, editor of Norra Sidan newspaper. "It just takes something to start a riot, and that was the shooting.

Around 15% of the population is foreign-born, and unemployment among these stands at 16%, compared with 6% for native Swedes.

Out of a total 103,000 immigrants last year, 43,900 were asylum seekers, almost 50% up from 2011. Nearly half of these were refugees from fighting in Syria, Afghanistan or Somalia, and will get at least temporary residency.

Stockholm is one of the world's richest cities, but it is also very segregated. In the suburbs engulfed in the rioting, most of the residents are of non-Swedish origin, mainly from Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Somalia