http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-12/sweden-boosts-security-for-asylum-seekers-after-ikea-attack/6690180
Posted about an hour ago
Tue 11 Aug 2015, 3:15pm
Police in central Sweden have increased security at asylum lodgings,
fearing a backlash after two Eritrean asylum seekers were detained on
suspicion of murdering two people at an IKEA store.
A man and a woman were killed in a knife attack at an IKEA store in
the city of Vasteras on Monday.
Two suspects were detained by police, one of whom was seriously injured.
One suspect has denied involvement, while the other is hospitalised.
Both had been staying in the same asylum centre, police said.
Police said there was no evidence of any political motive. The victims
did not have any connection to their attackers, police said.
"Local police across the region have been tasked with taking these
measures, to be there for safety purposes for everyone there - those
who work there and those who live there," Vastmanland police spokesman
Per Agren told Sweden's TT news agency, referring to asylum centres in
central Vastmanland county.
Sweden has been one of Europe's most generous recipients of asylum
seekers. In 2014, it received 81,200 applicants, 13 per cent of the
total in the European Union.
The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, who in 2010 took seats in
parliament for the first time, have become the third-biggest party,
arguing that record numbers of asylum seekers are undermining the
country's cherished welfare model.
The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention said this week the
number of suspected hate crimes — attacks motivated by the victim's
religious, sexual or racial identity — hit a record level last year.
In one of the latest incidents, two homeless migrants were shot at as
they slept in a car in the northern Swedish town of Boden last week.
Received on Tue Aug 11 2015 - 16:30:47 EDT