Swedish broadcast journalist Anna-Klara Bankel was called a “damn whore” and told not to film in the notorious Stockholm no-go suburb of Rinkeby by locals whilst recording video footage for a documentary.
Anna-Klara Bankel, who works for the Swedish public broadcaster SVT, was called a “damn whore” while attempting to interview locals on the effectiveness of recently introduced CCTV cameras in the area to combat drug dealing and other crimes.
While trying to talk to locals in the main square of Rinkeby, a man shouted: “Go away! You cannot film here. Damn it!”
Bankel replied: “Yes … there is a little unpleasant mood when you stand here.”
Shop owners who were interviewed by the television crew said that the CCTV cameras had done nothing to stop the drug dealing in the area as dealers had simply resorted to hiding drugs in the shops themselves.
Two shop workers told Ms. Bankel: “We usually report it. They hide everywhere, you cannot do anything. They do not care about the cameras in the store.”
When asked if they had confronted the dealers they claimed they had, but said: “They get angry and threaten us.”
The square in which Bankel was harassed is the same area in which an Australian television crew from Channel Nine was attacked in March 2016. The Australians, who were filming on the subject of how mass migration had affected the area, were punched, kicked, and even pushed by a car.
Bankel is also not the first Swedish journalist to be attacked or harassed in the square. Last year, a photographer from Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter was attacked by several men and had his camera stolen while trying to photograph rioting.
The photo-journalist reported having to make his own way to the nearest hospital as police claimed there were no patrols in the area.
The situation in Swedish no-go zones has deteriorated so much over the last year that Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has refused to rule out deploying the military to aid police.
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