STOCKHOLM: Swedish police said Monday they were heightening security in the area around the US and Israeli embassies in Stockholm, granting officers special powers to search people and vehicles, citing potential fallout from the war in the Middle East.
Police said that as of Tuesday, an area in central Stockholm, known as “Diplomatstaden” (“The Diplomat City“), would be designated a “security zone,” and this would remain in force until April 7.
The ongoing armed conflict in the Middle East ... is not limited to that geographical area alone. The conflict has had repercussions in other regions as well, where Israeli, Jewish, and American interests are present,” police said in a statement, noting that both the Israeli and US embassies were in the area.
BACKGROUND
Sweden gave police the power to create ‘security zones’in 2024 in response to a surge in violence linked to criminal networks.
Designating an area as a “security zone” means police can search people and vehicles without a formal suspicion of a crime. “In practice, this means that the police will have a higher presence than usual and carry out more preventive controls,” police said in a statement.
Sweden gave police the power to create “security zones” in 2024 in response to a surge in violence linked to criminal networks. Swedish police had already stepped up security around potential targets since early March.
The Swedish Security Service (Sapo) has previously accused Iran in particular of recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in Sweden — a claim Iran denied.
Also on Monday, four Jewish community ambulances were set ablaze in north London in what British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called “a deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack.”
The London Fire Brigade, which sent six fire engines and 40 firefighters to the scene, said multiple cylinders on the vehicles exploded, shattering nearby windows. No injuries were reported and no arrests have been made.
The SITE Intelligence website said an Iran-aligned multinational militant collective called Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand had claimed responsibility for the attack near a synagogue in Golders Green.
It said the group had been behind similar fires in Liege, Belgium, and Rotterdam and Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
