Sweden: 'We have no more room' for refugees and migrants, says liberal Nordic nation

Sweden has "no more space" to accommodate refugees and asylum seekers, a spokesman for the country's immigration agency said. The claim comes as the Swedish army was drafted in to help manage the influx of immigrants into the country.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees have arrived in Sweden in 2015, after the country announced in 2013 that it would provide asylum to any people fleeing the Syrian civil war who made it to its shores.

Sweden's immigration agency, Migrationsverket, has been forced to draft in the country's disaster management agency, as well as officers from the army, to help manage the influx.

"We don't have any more space," the agency's lead spokesman, Fredrik Bengtsson, told the Guardian. He said state accommodation had all been full since 2012 and now officials could not find any more affordable private accommodation.

"For the time being, all of these are finished as well, so for the last three or four nights we've had people sleeping in our [non-residential] centres across the country. Right now we're just looking for people to have a roof over their heads."

The Swedish government expects more than 150,000 refugees will arrive in the country by the end of 2015 and authorities have announced plans to house up to 35,000 refugees in heated tents as winter approaches.

Sweden's reputation as one of the world's most progressive nations has been under scrutiny amid increasing opposition to the country's immigration policy, with the far-right Sweden Democrats making significant gains in recent elections to become the country's third most powerful party. In some parts of the country, refugees have been met by far-right demonstrators and refugee centres have been torched.

On 9 November, Södermanlands News reported that leaflets were being distributed to refugees who had crossed to the Greek island of Lesbos, the first European destination of many seeking to make the journey on to wealthier northern European countries. The leaflets claimed mass immigration had led to rape, gang warfare and grenade attacks, and Islamic practices such as wearing a veil are forbidden.