Damberg about the roadblocks: "Unacceptable"

Masked, in the worst case also armed, young people who stop and check cars. This is how Erik Nord, police chief for Greater Gothenburg, describes the roadblocks that have recently appeared in various places in Gothenburg, most recently on Tuesday evening.

- It is not unusual in itself that you have younger scouts out to keep track of whether, for example, the police go into the area, says Erik Nord.

- Now they have taken it a step further and as far as we understand, in principle established roadblocks. There is even information that you are armed at these roadblocks.

It is important to strike directly at the phenomenon, states Erik Nord and is supported by Interior Minister Mikael Damberg (S), who on Wednesday presented further tightening of the law to deal with gang crime.

- It is completely unacceptable. The police solved that at once. The police in Gothenburg will not allow that there are any roadblocks in Gothenburg, Damberg tells TT.

The police have received testimony about, and themselves established, that the roadblocks have occurred several times in northeast Gothenburg in recent times. P4 Gothenburg has previously reported on roadblocks in Hammarkullen. According to Erik Nord, there is also information about, for example, Lövgärdet and Hjällbo.

Most recently on Tuesday evening, the police pulled out after information about a new roadblock.

- They stop very quickly when we go there, because we go straight away and try to hit them, says Erik Nord.

- So it is not as if we get there and are stopped in the roadblock, but they flee when we arrive. But we have also taken care of people who seem to participate in this activity.

How serious is this?

- You should not over-dramatize, but also do not shrug your shoulders at it. I feel a concern that it will become normalized over time.

- It is people who live in the areas that are also affected, you can understand what insecurity this creates.

According to the police, it is a conflict between a family-based network in Angered and a gang in Hisings Backa that flared up in August, which Göteborgs-Posten also reported on. Several shootings have occurred, including a gunshot wounded man in his 20s last week, and the police have started a so-called special event due to the situation.

- I think you have full control in Gothenburg of which criminal networks are doing a lot of mess down there right now, says Mikael Damberg.

Erik Nord fears that the violence may escalate further if the conflict is not stopped.

- We know what is going on and understand what measures we need to take, but there are no guarantees built into this system, he says.

- We can get a very serious situation extremely quickly, it can go in minutes almost in this conflict. But I feel safe with the way we work and that we get the different parts together in a good way.