Malmö: Firemen get death threats, demand police escort

According to Henrik Persson of the Malmö fire brigade, the youth who make trouble and threaten the firemen are a small group of youth aged 14-18.


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Malmö fire-fighters will in the future be given a police escort when visiting the suburb of Rosengård. Fire-fighters have demanded protection after having been repeatedly subjected to stone throwing and death threats.


Authorities decided on Thursday to provide protection to fire-fighters after a call-out on Thursday evening turned violent. Fire-fighters were subjected to stone-throwing and received death threats when battling a blaze in Rosengård, according to SVT.


Fire-fighters are now required to await a police escort before entering the area.


This is not the first, or the last, time that fire services have been subjected to stone-throwing and threats. On Friday at around 5pm stones rained down once again on a fire engine on a call-out to extinguish a fire at a school on Rosens väg. A window was broken in the tumult.


Bus traffic has previously been interrupted on several occasions as buses have become a target for stone-throwing youths.


The bus operators' safety representative has highlighted the dangers faced by bus drivers working on routes through Rosengård and certain routes have been periodically declared off limits.


Rosengård is not alone to have experienced the problems, busses in other areas of the city have also been subjected to stone-throwing youths.


Sources: The Local (English), SVT (Swedish)

Update:

The rescue services in southern Sweden have now agreed to put in a series of measures to improve fire fighter's working conditions, including stronger cooperation with the police, reinforced vehicle windows and the possibility of surveillance cameras.

Other more long-term measures include the recruitment of firefighters with immigrant backgrounds.

Source: The Local (English)

See also: Malmö: Youth attack police