Surburban riots in Sweden

The  explosive  riots  by  young  people  in Husby , a  surburb,  of  stockholm in May ,followed  the  shooting  to  death  of  a 69 year old pensioner  who had  threatened  police  with  a  knife while they  were  visiting  his  flat  on an emergency call.
Eveything  started on  sunday  May  19 when  police were  responding  to  a  car  on  fire in Kista,another  surburb  in  the  south  of  stockholm,where  they  met  by stone  throwing  youth.
Wanton  destruction  of  property  later  spread  to  Husby  which  is  quite  close to Kista.The  disturbances  continued  on Monday,may 20, when  eight more cars  were set on  fire.Three  young suspects  were  arrested  as  suspects but later  released.On  Teusday,May 21,27  cars  were  set  on  fire  in  areas  around Husby.
The  unrest  has  now  spread.In  Rågsvärd,windows  of  cars  were  destroyed  and a police station  set  on fire.
in  surrounding surburbs  Hjulsta, Rinkeby,Farsta,Tensta,Hagalund,Salem,Norsborg,Fruängen,Bredäng,Södertälje, and  Hagsätra ,there  have been  reports  of  destruction  of  property through  fire or  stone throwing   as well as  vandalisation  of  schools.
Violent  incidents  reported  included shooting  of  police  with a  laser gun,container  fires,burning  of  a  kindergarten and  stoning  of  firemen.
The  unrest  went  on  for  at least  five days.It  later  spread  to Linkoping  as well  as Gotenburg.
The   root  causes of the  unrest  have  been  attributed to  a  sense  of  hopelessness,high  unemployment in the surburbs,diversion  of  resources  from poor communities  to  more privileged ones ,  lack  of  meaningful leisure time activities for  the youth  and frustration  and  segregation.
A  recent OECD  report  notes  that  the  gap   between rich  and poor in sweden has  increased  dramatically  in recent  years. Indeed,Sweden  has  moved  from  first  to  fourteenth  place  in  the  league  of  the most  egalitarian  countries,says the report.According  OECD  relative poverty  is  that  portion of  the population  whose   disposal income is lower than   fifty per cent  of the country's  median income..Median  income  is  income in the middle class.
Material  or absolute poverty is related  to  level of income.Relative poor people run the risk of material poverty.It is defined as as inability  to afford at least three of the following-rent for accomodation,interest on loans,an unexpected expense,inability to afford a week's vacation at another place,cost of a  washing machine,colout tv,cost of protein or a telephone.
In  Rinkeby 53%  of  the population earn less than 160,000 swedish kronor per annum(approx 24,000 dollars)while it is 53% in Tensta and in stockholm the figure is 30%.

The  sequence  has  been  the same  regardless  of  whether it was  Los Angeles(1992),Seine  Saint- Denis(2005),Tootenham(2011) or Husby 2013.Somebody  from  the  area  is  in  conflict  with police  with a  deadly  outcome.For example,the shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham by police provoked a huge protest.
Finally,when everything  returns  to  normal.It  is  the  people  in  the  affected  areas  whether  they  burnt cars or  had  their  cars or businesses destroyed,windows  broken,bus  stops  or schools vandalised  who  are the  biggest losers.The  issue is  why  people  in  the  affected  areas  lashed out at others living  in the same community ?.
åIndeed,riots have become international.One  view  is that  riots will always shock  as long as privatisation continues  leading to economic inequality which promotes social unrest  especially  when it is combined with police brutality and racism.