On December 18 and 20, 2008, the closure of an Islamic cultural centre that housed a mosque in the Herrgården neighborhood of the

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

district of

Rosengård Rosengård (literally "Rose Manor") was a city district ( sv, stadsdel) in the center of Malmö Municipality, Sweden. On 1 July 2013, it was merged with Husie, forming Öster. In 2012, Rosengård had a population of 23,563 of the municipality' ...

, in southern

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, caused hundreds of youths to riot against police. The riot, thought to have been the first of several 21st century youth riots in Sweden, was described by police at the time as "most violent riots we had ever encountered."

Rioting

Rioting was sparked when the owner of a building in

decided not to renew the lease on the space used by the Islamiska Kulturföreningen (The Islamic Culture Association). The directors of the mosque and cultural center turned over the keys and vacated the premises, but angry youths occupied the building's basement in protest. The basement occupation went on for three weeks, at the end of which police coming to evict the occupiers were confronted by about 30 occupiers, including radicalized Muslims and activists affiliated with the radical leftist

Antifascistisk Aktion The Antifascistisk aktion (AFA) is a far-left, extra-parliamentary, anti-fascist movement in Sweden, whose stated goal is to "smash fascism in all its forms". Some of its members are influenced by the theory of triple oppression, and all of it ...

. The occupiers attacked police with

pipe bomb A pipe bomb is an improvised explosive device which uses a tightly sealed section of pipe (material), pipe filled with an explosive material. The containment provided by the pipe means that simple Explosive material#Low explosives, low explosi ...

s and

rocks In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's ...

and the incident rapidly escalated, with protestors arriving from other cities and officials calling in riot police. Rioting continued for two nights; additional police had to be called in form

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

and

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

to quell the violence. Rioters set fire to cars, wagons, kiosks, building sheds, recycling stations, and bicycle sheds. .http://www.smp.se/nyheter/sverige/article1046376.ece After two nights of rioting, 200 adult Malmö residents organized by the Islamiska kulturföreningen moved into the streets to mediate, causing the youthful rioters to desist.

References

{{reflist 2000s in Malmö Riots and civil disorder in Sweden 2008 riots 2008 in Sweden Protests in Sweden Protests in the European Union December 2008 events in Europe

Rioting

See also

References