Fri, 24 May, 2013 02:26:23 AM Sweden starts legal proceedings FTimes-STT Report, May 24 ![]() People attend a demonstration against police violence and vandalism in the Stockholm suburb of Husby on May 22, 2013. Rioting spread across Stockholm immigrant districts in a third night of unrest, raising fears that decades of integration efforts have gone dangerously awry. The riots are believed to have been sparked by the deadly police shooting last week of an elderly man in Husby -- a run down, low-income suburb that is only a short walk away from the Kista Science Tower skyscraper, a symbol of the booming IT sector in one of Europe's wealthiest cities. Photo AFP-Lehtikuva The Swedish authorities on Thursday launched legal proceedings against suspected rioters at Husby, a Stockholm suburb, this week.
A hearing on the charges brought against an 18-year-old Finnish national and some others took place on the opening day at Solna District Court, in which the teenage people were accused of committing destructive acts.
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People inspect cars gutted by fire in the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby after youths rioted in several different suburbs around Stockholm, Sweden for a fourth consecutive night on May 23, 2013. Photo AFP-Lehtikuva The Finnish citizen, who is charged with arson in the Husby riots, was present in the court during the hearing and denied the charges, reported Swedish news agency STT.
The Swedish police, however, did not disclose the identity and social status of the rioting suspect.
The accused is scheduled to appear before the court again on June 5 to present the defence.
As per the Swedish law, the minimum punishment for arson is two years’ imprisonment.
Three other accused, who were also arrested in connection with the incidents, were sent to a juvenile home.
The unrest began on Sunday in the deprived, largely immigrant suburb of Husby to the northwest of the capital city, reported BBC.
Days earlier, police shot dead an elderly man who had allegedly threatened to kill them with a machete.
The worst of the latest rioting has been in the south of the city.
Police said the rioters were a ‘mixture of every kind of people’.
Activists in the Husby area have accused police of racist behaviour – an accusation greeted with scepticism by the police themselves.
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has said everybody must take responsibility for restoring calm in Stockholm, said the BBC report. More News
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