Paulina Neuding

Coffee House Top 10: Bomb attacks are now a normal part of Swedish life

Gang violence is now at a level where it threatens to undermine the Swedish state

We’re closing 2019 by republishing our ten most-read articles of the year. Here’s No. 7, Paulina Neuding’s piece from October, on bomb attacks in Sweden:

One night last week, explosions took place in three different locations in and around Stockholm. There were no injuries this time, just the usual shattered windows, scattered debris and shocked people woken by the blast.

The police bomb squad was already on its way to the first explosion in the district of Vaxholm when it had to turn around and prioritise the detonation at a residential building in the more densely populated city centre. Residents whose doors had been deformed by the shock wave had to be rescued. The third target (seemingly unrelated) was a facility belonging to a Syriac Orthodox church, which had already been bombed twice in the past year. ‘Normalisation’ is a term that we have come to associate with domestic violence: the victim begins to think of abuse as a part of everyday life.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in