Dozens of masked men believed to belong to neo-Nazi gangs carried out a number of assaults on migrants in Stockholm overnight amid rising tension over immigration, Swedish police said Saturday.
Police had beefed up their presence in the city center, deploying anti-riot and helicopter units after learning that extremists were planning “aggression on unaccompanied migrant minors” in the city late Friday.
“I was passing by and saw a masked group dressed in black… start hitting foreigners. I saw three people molested,” the Aftonbladet daily quoted one witness as saying.
Police spokesman Towe Hagg said by midday police had not received any complaints of assault but one 46-year-old man was arrested after striking a plain clothed officer.
Three further people were briefly detained for public order offences and one more faces charges for carrying a knife.