Riots in Sweden....and America

This article first appeared in New English Review

This week, I have been following the events in Sweden very closely. Since Thursday, various towns in the country have been wracked by Muslim rioting. This is a reaction to scheduled appearances by Rasmus Paludan, a Danish (he also has Swedish nationality) politician, head of the Stram Kurs party in Denmark, and a noted anti-Islam activist. Paludan’s MO is to publicly burn Korans or otherwise desecrate them, thus provoking the Muslim population.

On Thursday, Paludan had scheduled appearances in the southern Swedish towns of Linköping and Norrköping. On both occasions, he was met by violent riots in which police were attacked by hundreds of young Muslim men with rocks. In addition, police cars were burned. On Friday, similar scenes played out in Rinkeby, an immigrant-heavy neighborhood in Stockholm, as well as the town of Örebro. Several police officers were injured in the latter town, and once again, police cars were set on fire while police were attacked with rocks. On Saturday, it was the turn for Landskrona and Malmö, while on Sunday, rioting returned to Linköping and Norrkoping. It seems only a handful of people have been arrested as police have been simply overwhelmed.

I should say at this point that I do not agree with Paludan’s provocative acts. I agree with Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch, who is someone I regard as one of the leading experts on Islam. People should read the Koran, not burn it. For those of us opposed to political Islam, reading and understanding the Koran is the best weapon we have. Burning it not only inflames the extremists, but it also angers all Muslims. I do support Paludan’s right of free expression, however the laws of Sweden and Denmark may apply, and I do not justify the rioting. As I write, over a dozen Swedish police have had to be hospitalized.

It is easy for me to say, as an American, that Sweden needs to back its police, send in reinforcements, and pack the rioters off to jail and subsequent deportation if the arrestees are not citizens. But what about my own country? In our cities, police have been overwhelmed by murder and rioting in the last couple of years as Antifa and Black Lives Matter have taken over our urban landscapes. To add to the problem, cities like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are not only led by feckless Democrat politicians but have George Soros-funded, liberal DAs in charge who don’t believe in putting anyone in jail. On our southern border, our Border Patrol agents are overwhelmed by illegal migrants and getting no support from Washington.

Who am I to lecture Sweden or any other country in Western Europe?

I find it ironic that in Western Europe, the police-under orders from the politicians- tightly enforce Covid restrictions and arrest protesters, yet when Muslims riot, the police merely try to contain the violence, even retreating at times as their police cars burn and their officers are hit by rocks.

I also find it ironic that in the US, Antifa and BLM have free rein in our cities while the January 6 protesters are tracked down and locked up without bail. I say that as one who does not defend those January 6 rioters who broke into the Capitol and wreaked havoc. They were wrong, but I would like to see the same zeal applied to those who have been rioting in Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, and numerous other cities. 

Returning to Sweden, whatever one thinks of Rasmus Paludan and his Koran-burning, there is no justification for rioting, attacking police, and setting fire to cars. Sweden is not their country, however much they may think it is. By their actions, they are demonstrating, once again, that Islamic society is not compatible with Western society. Sorry, it just isn’t. If you throw in the rampant crime, Islamic extremism, Jew-hatred, attacks on Christian churches, and societal upheaval, it should be obvious to all that this great social experiment in Europe has utterly failed- just as liberalism has failed in America.