Fake news becomes reality? Swedish suburb descends into riots after Trump's false claims

Days after US President Donald Trump falsely suggested Sweden had become a victim of a major terrorist incident for accepting refugees, an immigrant-dominated enclave of the city has erupted into riots.

The clashes are believed to have started on Monday (20 February) after police arrested a man for drug offences in Rinkeby in the northern suburbs of capital Stockholm.

Rocks were hurled at police vans, cars were torched and shops were looted.

Police spokesperson Lars Byström told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper that a police officer fired a shot at one of the protesters in exchange but missed his mark.

"Nobody has been found injured at the scene and we have checked the hospitals and there hasn't been anyone with what could be gunshot wounds," he said.

At least seven cars were set on fire and a photographer for the Dagens Nyheter newspaper was reportedly assaulted by 15 people.

"I was hit with a lot of punches and kicks, both to my body and my head. I have spent the night in hospital," he said.

The area saw similar riots in 2010 and 2013, but has been relatively incident-free since.

No-go zones

At a rally in Florida on Saturday (18 February), Trump said he wanted to talk to crowds "without the filter of fake news" before making the false claims about Sweden.

"You look at what's happening last night in Sweden... Sweden... who would believe this?" said the president. "Sweden, they took in large numbers, they are having problems like they never thought possible."

No major incidents had been reported in the country and when Trump was pressed, he referenced a Fox News story a day earlier which described the Rinkeby area as "no-go zones".

However, one of the two Swedish police officers to speak to Fox News, Anders Goranzon, said the outlet's reporting had been inaccurate.

"We don't stand behind it," he told the Chicago Tribune. "It shocked us. He [filmmaker Ami Horowitz] has edited the answers.

"We were answering completely different questions in the interview. This is bad journalism."