All across the world, people saw the disturbing news reports coming out of Sweden on Saturday.
Dozens of masked men marched through a busy Stockholm shopping center and attacked any person who didn’t look like an “ethnic Swede.” The stories on the incident came with terrifying headlines.
They included: “Mob of masked men rampage through Stockholm station beating up refugee children;” “‘Hundreds’ of masked men beat refugee children in Stockholm;” and, the most sensational of all, “Stockholm pogrom: Crowd of masked men hunt and beat up non-Swedes.”
Video of the violence details a chaotic scene and eyewitnesses told various outlets that they were frightened for their safety. For a stable, First World country like Sweden, Saturday’s attack is quite the shock. Especially when the 50 or so men responsible (yeah, not quite “hundreds”) are believed to be affiliated with a neo-Nazi group and initiated the assaults in retaliation for the brutal murder of a Swedish social worker by a Nigerian migrant. (RELATED: 15-Year-Old Refugee Brutally Kills His Swedish Care Taker In Stabbing)
Government officials in the Nordic state have been quick to blame the “far-right” for the violence and have taken the incident as proof for why criticism of migrants should not be tolerated.
Certainly, Saturday’s violence is deplorable and was inflicted upon adults (the “children” line is about as accurate as the “hundreds” claim) who are, in all likelihood, innocent of any crimes associated with migrants.
But for the government and European media to place the blame for the violence entirely on Swedish nationalists and growing fears of refugees is ridiculous. The real blame should be placed on the authorities and outlets who have done everything possible to ignore and cover-up the migrant crimes — which has tragically led some citizens taking the law into their own hands.
For instance, coverage of the murder which is being cited as the inspiration for the attacks was not looked too kindly upon by Swedish authorities. A Daily Mail report on the social worker slaying was not accessible to Swedish ISP addresses and citizens in the country have reported other online stories on the crime facing similar government censorship.
Earlier in January, it was uncovered Swedish police covered-up several sexual assaults committed by refugees at a popular Stockholm music festival two years in a row. Most of the victims were teenagers, but some of the girls who were assaulted were as young as 11. Stockholm’s police chief admitted his force was “scared to tell the truth because we think it will benefit the Sweden Democrats [the country’s anti-immigration party].” It was also discovered that one of the country’s major newspapers buried the story after editors found out the culprits were Afghan refugees. (RELATED: Refugee Gangs Sexually Assault Teenage Girls At Swedish Festival Two Years In A Row)
Sweden has been at the forefront of Europe’s “Refugees Welcome” effort, taking in nearly 200,000 migrants in 2015 alone. But that government-led initiative has not been met with much enthusiasm among the general public, and a December poll found a strong majority of Swedes want their country to take in fewer refugees.
Meanwhile support for the nationalist Sweden Democrats continues to rise — much to the dismay of the political establishment.
But Swedish authorities seem to have ignored the signs of growing domestic discontent and have directed their attention to suppressing those opposing migrant crime than to dealing with actual migrant crime.
When the Sweden Democrats finished an unprecedented third place in the 2014 parties, all of the parties represented in parliament pledged to isolate the nationalists from exerting any influence on government policy — effectively neutralizing the voices of Swedish citizens who voted for the anti-immigration party.
Last August, the vicious slaying of two Swedes in an IKEA store by an Eritrean immigrant shocked the country. Police responded by banning protests in response to the incident and downplaying the killer’s migrant status.
Sweden also has some of the most stringent “hate speech” laws on the books and officials have vowed to criminally punish any rhetoric they deem too “anti-immigrant.”
This is the same country that has become the “Rape Capital of the West” in part due to its generous immigration policies. (RELATED: The Migrant Rape Culture The Political Elite Wishes Were Fake)
Naturally, the family of the slain Swedish woman which sparked the vigilante attacks didn’t blame nationalists for her murder — they blamed the politicians who let in the unvetted migrants. (RELATED: Family Of Woman Murdered By Refugee: ‘It’s The Swedish Politicians’ Fault’)
A similar situation is occurring in refugee-embracing Germany as well. Government officials, police and major media outlets all tried to obscure the now-infamous New Year’s Eve migrant rape gang attacks because telling the truth would be “politically awkward.” Fortunately, the truth about the horrific affair got out and many of the people who tried to cover it up lost their jobs or were forced to apologize. (RELATED: German Police Allegedly Covered Up ‘Syrian Refugee’ Status Of NYE Sex Assault Perpetrators Because It Was ‘Politically Awkward’)
However, public anxiety over the incident has still not quelled and many Germans are outraged their government would show reluctance to tackle such abominable acts. Like in Sweden, vigilante gangs were formed for the purpose of beating up foreign-looking men in response to the embarrassing handling of the situation by authorities.
In the weeks since Germany learned of the New Year’s Eve attack, number one refugee champion Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised to deport any asylum seekers who break the law and is requesting those refugees hailing from Syria to return home after the country’s civil war ends. At the same time Merkel desperately tries to save face, 40 percent of Germans say she should resign — including 26 percent of her own party — over her refugee policy which brought in over a million migrants in 2015. (RELATED: 40 Percent Of Germans Are Disgusted With Merkel, Want Her To Resign Over Refugees)
Another similarity Germany shares with Sweden is how it has suppressed legal opposition to immigrants. State officials are demanding spy probes on the anti-Islamist protest movement PEGIDA in order to keep an eye on the so-called “extremists.” Merkel and her deputies are urging social media sites like Facebook to censor speech critical of immigrants and expansive hate speech laws are routinely used against those who speak out publicly against Islam and mass immigration. (RELATED: Cologne Won’t Wake Up Germany’s Leaders)
It’s no wonder then some fed-up citizens are taking to vigilante violence. Many feel their voices are being drowned out while their safety is sacrificed to uphold left-wing ideals. They’re tired of being lied to and seeing police turn the other way when criminal migrants prey upon the innocent. Legal parties and protest groups are intimidated and silenced if they hold views the establishment doesn’t like.
That certainly doesn’t justify attacking random immigrants or burning down refugee camps. But it should serve as a wake-up call to the European political class. There will likely be more violence if the authorities do nothing to stop the flow of refugees and clamp down on immigrant crime. Cover ups and ridiculous claims — like European Union leaders claiming refugees had nothing to do with the Cologne attacks — are a serious disservice to average, law-abiding Europeans.
What this out-of-touch elite needs to realize is that their primary responsibility is to their citizens, not non-citizens. Continuing to ignore this fact opens up the possibility of chaos overtaking the most civilized continent on Earth.
And no amount of censorship will hide that catastrophe.