At least six cars were torched in a Stockholm suburb late Thursday, as the Swedish capital braced for a fifth night of riots.
Firefighters were putting out the flames in the six vehicles in Rinkeby, one of the immigrant-dominated areas where riots have raged this week, according to an AFP photographer on the scene.
Five of the vehicles, which had been parked alongside each other, were completely gutted, while a sixth was slightly damaged, the photographer said.
Police said between 300 and 500 people were gathered around the blazing cars, the Swedish news agency TT reported.
“We are receiving reports that there are a whole lot of people there,” Towe Haegg, a spokeswoman of Stockholm police, was quoted as saying by TT.
Police was also quoted by TT as reporting disorder, with youth seen vandalising cars, in the area around a metro station in Vaellingby, another Stockholm suburb.
Stockholm police called in reinforcements earlier in the day in preparation for possible unrest for a fifth night in a row.
The riots have shattered Sweden’s image overseas as an oasis of peace and have set off debate about the country’s ability to assimilate immigrants, who make up about 15 percent of the Swedish population.
The troubles are believed to have been triggered when police shot and killed a 69-year-old resident in a Stockholm suburb last week after the main wielded a machete in public.
Cars ablaze as Stockholm braces for fifth night of riots
