Several interviews with emergency service crews accompany a report on the most dangerous areas of Stockholm in today’s Aftonbladet. A fire officer states “They set cars on fire and when our crew arrives, people are subject to regular ambushes”. He said stones are regularly thrown, and fire hoses stolen.
A spokesman for the ambulance service in Sweden says he has very high staff turnover in areas where crews are threatened with violence or attacked, and some suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. “I’ve had paramedics who have been shot at, chased with knives or axes. We see a disturbing trend where colleagues who are subjected to violence don’t want to testify in court”.
“Now we go to gunshot wounds almost daily”.