Sweden: Cars on Fire and impact on Elections

On Monday, August 13th, more than 100 cars were set on fire across Sweden. From what I've read, the largest attack was done in Gothenburg, which is a western city (Stockholm is to the east). Two other cities in the west were also targeted: Trollhattan and Falkenberg. It is believed the attacked were coordinated over social media.

Interesting note is that the various news reports I've read simply say the crime was committed by youth, gangs, young men.

USA Today:

Police did not say what might have motivated the "organized and prepared" attacks, only confirming that gangs of youths were involved without specifying numbers.



New York Times:

The Swedish authorities on Wednesday were investigating the burning of more than 100 vehicles on the nation’s west coast, in what they said was a coordinated arson attack by groups of young men.

On Tuesday, the police arrested a 16-year-old boy and a 21-year-old man in connection with the fires there. A third man who had fled to Turkey was picked up at an airport there late Tuesday, said Christer Fuxborg, a police spokesman. 

The Local (Sweden):

Swedish media reported that groups of up to ten youths had been seen throwing stones and lighting cars on fire in Gothenburg districts Gårdsten, Hjällbo and Frölunda, among other locations.

DW:

Two suspects aged 16 and 21 from the Gothenburg suburb of Frolunda were arrested on Tuesday, and a third suspect born in 1999 had been on the run, but was stopped as he attempted to enter Turkey.

As can be seen, there might be a hint about who was involved in the attacks as someone was trying to escape to (or through) Turkey, but from what I can tell no name was released so who knows the ethnicity of that young man.

The Swedes appear to be taking this all stride when it comes to their upcoming elections on September 9th. Per Express UK the right wing Sweden Democrats are polling at 19%. I noted in a prior blog post that Express UK had the Sweden Democrats polling at 22%. So they actually have lost support. If this car vandalism was a big deal, I would think the Sweden Democrats would benefit from it, which as of now doesn't appear to be the case.