A masked swordsman who killed a teaching assistant and a boy and wounded two others, all with immigrant backgrounds, was driven by racist motives, Swedish police said yesterday.The 21-year old assailant walked through a school in Trollhattan, an industrial town in western Sweden with a large immigrant population, stabbing the assistant and boy to death with a sword before being shot dead by police.
Police said all the victims were from immigrant backgrounds, and Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said record numbers of refugees had fuelled racism among a small segment of society.
The attack came on the same day that the government announced up to 190000 refugees could arrive in Sweden this year, a record number that has strained resources and seen several arson attacks on asylum seeker centres.
“We will have to ask ourselves several questions about how society is developing, about polarisation and mobilise all good forces against this racist violence,” Ygeman told TV4.
“Of course there is a connection in the sense of the social climate.”
But he defended the centre-left’s liberal asylum-seeking policies that have seen Sweden accept more refugees per capita than any other European country in recent years.
Over the decades, Sweden has welcomed refugees ranging from Vietnam war draft dodgers in the 1960s to Gulf War refugees in the 1990s.
“You can’t blame asylum policy because we have a madman who murders children,” Ygeman said.
Swedish media said one of the dead, a 17-year old pupil at the school, had come to Sweden from Somalia three years ago. A 15-year old, recovering in hospital from stab wounds, had recently arrived from Syria.
“Three factors point to the hate crime motive: the way he acted and how he was dressed during the attack, and also findings at the flat where he lived,” police said.
In a photo taken after the killer had stabbed at least one person, he posed in a school corridor with pupils who thought his cape, mask and WW 2-type helmet were part of a Halloween prank. Moments later he stabbed a teacher who approached him.
The suspected killer’s social media accounts showed “likes” for pro-Nazi video clips as well as an anti-immigration campaign, according to local media.
The anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats party has seen its popularity soar with polls showing it would get around 20% of the vote now, up from around 13% in a general election last year.
Masked Swedish swordsman kills two
Police said all the victims were from immigrant backgrounds, and Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said record numbers of refugees had fuelled racism among a small segment of society.
The attack came on the same day that the government announced up to 190000 refugees could arrive in Sweden this year, a record number that has strained resources and seen several arson attacks on asylum seeker centres.
“We will have to ask ourselves several questions about how society is developing, about polarisation and mobilise all good forces against this racist violence,” Ygeman told TV4.
“Of course there is a connection in the sense of the social climate.”
But he defended the centre-left’s liberal asylum-seeking policies that have seen Sweden accept more refugees per capita than any other European country in recent years.
Over the decades, Sweden has welcomed refugees ranging from Vietnam war draft dodgers in the 1960s to Gulf War refugees in the 1990s.
“You can’t blame asylum policy because we have a madman who murders children,” Ygeman said.
Swedish media said one of the dead, a 17-year old pupil at the school, had come to Sweden from Somalia three years ago. A 15-year old, recovering in hospital from stab wounds, had recently arrived from Syria.
“Three factors point to the hate crime motive: the way he acted and how he was dressed during the attack, and also findings at the flat where he lived,” police said.
In a photo taken after the killer had stabbed at least one person, he posed in a school corridor with pupils who thought his cape, mask and WW 2-type helmet were part of a Halloween prank. Moments later he stabbed a teacher who approached him.
The suspected killer’s social media accounts showed “likes” for pro-Nazi video clips as well as an anti-immigration campaign, according to local media.
The anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats party has seen its popularity soar with polls showing it would get around 20% of the vote now, up from around 13% in a general election last year.
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