Stockholm on Lockdown As Police Officer Stabbed in Neck By Moroccan Youth

A man was arrested for attempted murder in central Stockholm, the capital of Sweden Thursday morning after a police officer was stabbed in the neck while on patrol, the second attack against police in the city in a matter of hours.

The incident took place on the Medborgarplatsen on Södermalm, one of the Islands that makes up the historic center of the city. Police have said it is too soon to talk about possible motives for the “unprovoked” attack, but Nyheter Idag reports a “well-established police source” that the would-be killer was a Moroccan youth.

A number of police patrols have been deployed to the city center, reports Swedish newspaper Expressen, and the city center including a local school was locked down.

Just nu: DN sänder live från Medborgarplatsen: https://t.co/cAhHwaLTNG pic.twitter.com/k72bCsPWx1

— Dagens Nyheter (@dagensnyheter) August 31, 2017

It is reported the assailant snuck up behind the officer and cut his neck. The attack has been called completely unprovoked in Swedish media.

While the officer was conscious and able to sit up on his own as the ambulance arrived. He was discharged from the hospital Thursday afternoon having sustained only minor injuries.

The attack comes just hours after Swedish police were the subject of another potentially deadly attack Thursday morning, again in Stockholm. Officers were called to a bogus burglar alarm in a suburb to the south of the city, and upon arriving instead of finding a householder in distress, their car was pelted with heavy stones from a 10th floor flat in a tower block.

One of the officers, a police dog handler came close to being killed when his vehicle was struck, reports Expressen. Police were able to raid the apartment and arrested one for attempted murder, but a second suspect remains on the run.

The square had recently hit the news as it was the site of a demonstration by migrants protesting against the Swedish migration board’s deportations to Afghanistan, as reported by Sweden’s Metro. It is reported the police were in the square because they were providing security cover to the ongoing demonstration.

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