Stockholm riots challenge image of happy, generous state

A car set on fire burns, following riots in the Stockholm suburb of Kista late May 21, 2013, in this picture provided by Scanpix. REUTERS/Fredrik Sandberg/Scanpix

By Johan Sennero and Johan Ahlander

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Hundreds of young people have torched cars and attacked police in three nights of riots in immigrant suburbs of Sweden's capital, shocking a country that has dodged the worst of the financial crisis but failed to defuse youth unemployment and resentment of asylum seekers.

On Tuesday night, a police station in the Jakobsberg area in northwest Stockholm was attacked, two schools were damaged and an arts and crafts centre was set ablaze, despite a call for calm from Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

"We've had around 30 cars set on fire last night, fires that we connect to youth gangs and criminals," Kjell Lindgren, spokesman for Stockholm police, said on Wednesday.

The riots were less severe than those of the past two summers in Britain and France, but provided a similar reminder that, even in places less ravaged by the financial crisis than Greece or Spain, state belt-tightening is toughest on the poor, especially immigrants.

"We see a society that is becoming increasingly divided and where the gaps, both socially and economically, are becoming larger," said Rami Al-khamisi, co-founder of Megafonen, a group that works for social change in the suburbs.

"And the people out here are being hit the hardest ... We have institutional racism."

The riots appear to have been sparked by the police killing of a 69-year-old man wielding a machete in the suburb of Husby this month, which prompted accusations of police brutality. The riots then spread from Husby to other poor Stockholm suburbs.

"The reason is very simple. Unemployment, the housing situation, disrespect from police," said Rouzbeh Djalaie, editor of the local Norra Sidan newspaper, which covers Husby. "It just takes something to start a riot, and that was the shooting."

IDENTITY CHECKS

Djalaie said youths were often stopped by police in the streets for unnecessary identity checks. During the riots, he said some police called local youths "apes".

The television pictures of blazing cars come as a jolt to a country proud of its reputation for social justice as well as its hospitality towards refugees from war and repression.

"I understand why many people who live in these suburbs and in Husby are worried, upset, angry and concerned," said Justice Minister Beatrice Ask. "Social exclusion is a very serious cause of many problems, we understand that."

After decades of practicing the "Swedish model" of generous welfare benefits, Stockholm has been reducing the role of the state since the 1990s, spurring the fastest growth in inequality of any advanced OECD economy.

While average living standards are still among the highest in Europe, successive governments have failed to substantially reduce long-term youth unemployment and poverty, which have affected immigrant communities worst.

Some 15 percent of the population are foreign-born, and unemployment among these stands at 16 percent, compared with 6 percent for native Swedes, according to OECD data.

Youth unemployment in Husby, at 6 percent, is twice the overall average across the capital.

The left-leaning tabloid Aftonbladet said the riots represented a "gigantic failure" of government policies, which had underpinned the rise of ghettos in the suburbs.

As unemployment has grown, the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats party has risen to third in polls ahead of a general election due next year, reflecting many voters' worries that immigrants may be partly to blame.

ASYLUM NUMBERS RISING

While many of the immigrant population are from Nordic neighbors closely tied to Sweden by language or culture, the debate has tended to focus on poor asylum seekers from distant war zones.

Out of a total 103,000 immigrants last year, 43,900 were asylum seekers, almost 50 percent up from 2011. Nearly half of these were refugees from fighting in Syria, Afghanistan or Somalia, and will get at least temporary residency.

Among 44 industrialized countries, Sweden ranks fourth in the absolute number of asylum seekers, and second relative to its population, according to U.N. figures.

Policing in Stockholm has already been the focus of controversy this year, with allegations that police were picking out darker-skinned immigrants for identity checks in subway trains.

"The young people say: 'I'm getting chased and harassed by the police anyway. So I might as well do something (to be harassed for)'," said local editor Djalaie.

Ask, the justice minister, acknowledged the problem by promising that police would get closer to the local community.

On the streets of Husby, daily life appeared to be returning to normal on Wednesday, but police planned to put extra night-time patrols on the streets. Some shops reopened, despite broken windows. There was at least one burnt-out car, but many had already been removed.

Alikalay Adan, a youth worker who had tried to mediate between police and rioters, criticized police for "coming out here screaming and with batons drawn", but said some of the local community must share the blame.

"Everyone is like a family out here, and it is sad when a few destroy everything and give the area a bad name."

(Additional reporting by Simon Johnson, Niklas Pollard and Mia Shanley; Writing by Alistair Scrutton; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Afghan students protest women's rights decree

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Hard-line Islamist students protested in the Afghan capital demanding the repeal of a presidential decreefor women's rights that they say is un-Islamic. It was the latest sign of a backlash against the legal protections passed in the 12 years since the toppling of the Taliban regime known for its harsh treatment of women.

The protest came days after conservative lawmakers' vehement opposition blocked an attempt to cement the decree's provisions in legislation.

Most of international force that ousted the Taliban is now preparing to withdraw by the end of next year, and activists fear an erosion of the women's rights will follow if hard-liners pressure the elected government.

More than 200 male students protested in front of Kabul University on Wednesday against the decree on Elimination of Violence Against Women, which includes a ban on child marriage and forced marriage, makes domestic violence a crime and says rape victims cannot be prosecuted for adultery. It also outlaws "ba'ad," a traditional practice of exchanging women or girls to settle disputes or debts.

Protester Fazel Hadi, 25, said the decree was "imposed by foreigners" and violates Islamic Shariah law.

Mawladad Jalali, the mullah of the university mosque and one of the organizers of the protest, led chants decrying democracy in general and the women's law specifically.

"Our main demand is that this law should be repealed in the parliament," he said before leading a brief march while police who cordoned off the area looked on.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued the decree on women's rights three years ago as part of a raft of commitments to international donors, but lawmaker and activist Fawzia Kofi wanted to pass it in parliament to prevent any future president from reversing it.

The brief parliamentary debate Saturday was ended by the speaker after fierce opposition from conservative lawmakers who said several provisions — including the ban on child marriage and jail time for domestic abuse — violated Islamic law. The decree remains in force, but the debate appears to have galvanized opposition to it.

The United Nations' mission in Afghanistan this week urged the government to do more to enforce the women's rights decree, saying it is only sporadically applied when women report abuse.

"It is imperative for the development of Afghanistan that women are able to exercise their rights and be free from violence in their homes and workplaces," UN Special Representative Jan Kubis said in a Monday statement.

In another worrisome sign for activists, the international group Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that the number of women and girls jailed for alleged loose morals is the highest since the ouster of the Taliban, even though most of those detained are victims of abuse and have committed no crime under Afghan civil law.

The Taliban imposed their strict interpretation of Islamic law during their five-year reign, ordering beatings for women failing to wear the full-body burqa garment in public, closing girls' schools and banning women from leaving their homes without a male relative. They were toppled in a U.S.-led invasion for sheltering the al-Qaida's terrorist leadership and now wage an insurgency.

Human Rights Watch's Afghanistan researcher Heather Barr said that Afghanistan risks losing international aid if it does not meet commitments to uphold women's freedoms.

Man shot by FBI had had ties to bombing suspect

An FBI investigator enters the apartment where a man was shot by an FBI agent, Wednesday, May 22, 2013, in Orlando, Fla. The FBI says the man, being questioned by authorities in the Boston bombing probe, was fatally shot when he initiated a violent confrontation. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

FBI investigators walk near the crime scene of an apartment where a man was shot by an FBI agent, Wednesday, May 22, 2013, in Orlando, Fla. The man who was shot and killed by the agent early this morning was friends with the Boston bombings suspects, according to a friend of the victim. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Chechen immigrant shot to death in central Florida after an altercation with an FBI agent had several ties to that of one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects who authorities were questioning him about at the time.

Ibragim Todashev's Chechen roots and mixed martial artsbackground mirror that of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the Boston bombing suspect killed in a shootout with police last month. The two also had lived in the Boston area.

Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, was fatally shot by authorities early Wednesday at his Orlando home during a meeting with the agent and two Massachusetts state troopers, authorities said. The agent was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

Three law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Todashev had lunged at the FBI agent with a knife. However, two of those officials said later in the day it was no longer clear what had happened. The third official had not received any new information.

The FBI gave no details on why it was interested in Todashev except to say that he was being questioned as part of the Bostoninvestigation. However, two officials briefed on the investigation said he had implicated himself as having been involved in a 2011 triple-slaying in a Boston suburb that authorities believe may have been connected to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old Boston bombing suspect killed in a shootout with police days after the April 15 terrorist attack.

Public records show that Todashev resided in nearby Watertown, Mass. last year.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev's younger brother, Dzhokhar, survived the shootout with police and is now charged with carrying out the attack that killed three people and wounded more than 260 in downtown Boston. He is also charged in the slaying of an MIT police officer days later.

Several of Todashev's former roommates who were questioned by the FBI said he knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev, an aspiring boxer, from mixed martial arts fighting in Boston and that the FBI was asking about him.

"He's a regular guy, nothing wrong," Saeed Dunkaev said of Todashev.

Todashev had lived on and off with other Chechens in the Orlando suburb of Kissimmee and had moved to Orlando more recently, friends said.

Investigators have been trying to establish the scope of the plot. In addition, authorities in Massachusetts said they would investigate whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev had any connection to the unsolved 2011 deaths in the Boston suburb of Waltham, where three men were found in an apartment, their throats slit and marijuana sprinkled over their bodies. One of the victims was a boxer and a friend of Tsarnaev's.

Two officials who were briefed on the investigation said Todashev made statements, while he was being interviewed by the FBI and Massachusetts state police, implicating himself as having been involved in the 2011 Waltham slayings. Neither of the officials, one of whom had earlier told The Associated Press there was no new information on Todashev lunging at the agent, knew whether Todashev had also implicated Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the killings. The two people, a federal law enforcement official and a Massachusetts state official, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release details of the investigation.

Neither official was sure of the extent of Todashev's supposed involvement.

Police records suggest Todashev had a hot temper, with arrests in a road rage incident and, more recently, in a fight over a parking space.

Muslin Chapkhanov, another former roommate, said Todashev knew the older Tsarnaev brother. Todashev "was living in Boston and I think he trained with him," Chapkhanov said.

Former roommate Khusen Taramov said the FBI was asking questions about a conversation Todashev had with the older bombing suspect a month before the Boston Marathon attack.

The ex-roommate said Todashev shared the substance of his previous conversations with investigators with him and that he was completely forthcoming, saying that the conversation covered basic how's-your-life kinds of topics.

It's why he was surprised that Wednesday's interview ended the way it did.

"He told them everything," Taramov said. "He told everything he knew...I don't know why that (the shooting) happened. It's crazy."

Taramov said Todashev was afraid before Wednesday's interview as well.

"That's what he asked me before he pretty much died," Taramov said. "He asked me, 'If something happens can you go out and tell all the truth. What exactly happened.'"

Like Todashev, the Tsarnaev brothers have roots in the turbulent Russian regions of Dagestan and Chechnya, which have become recruiting grounds for Islamic extremists. Investigators have said the brothers carried out the Boston bombing in retaliation for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

An FBI team was dispatched from Washington to review the shooting, standard procedure in such cases.

Todashev was arrested earlier this month on a charge of aggravated battery after getting into a fight over a parking spot with two men — a father and son — at an Orlando shopping mall. The son was hospitalized with a split lip and several teeth knocked out, according to a sheriff's report. Todashev claimed self-defense.

"Also by his own admission Todashev was recently a former mixed martial arts fighter," the arresting deputy said in his report. "This skill puts his fighting ability way above that of a normal person."

Todashev was released on $3,500 bail after his May 4 arrest. His attorney, Alain Rivas, didn't immediately respond to a call for comment Wednesday.

Todashev was also arrested by Boston police in 2010 after a road rage incident. Witnesses told police that he argued with two other drivers and cut them off with his vehicle. According to a police report, he yelled, "You say something about my mother, I will kill you."

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Associated Press writer Steve LeBlanc and AP Legal Affairs Writer Denise Lavoie in Boston, Pete Yost in Washington and Mike Schneider and Tony Winton in Orlando contributed to this report.

$2B in Okla. tornado damage means hard recovery

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — All that is left of Shayne Patteson's three-bedroom home is the tiny area where his wife hunkered down under a mattress to protect their three children when a tornado packing winds of at least 200 mph slammed through his neighborhood.

Patteson vowed to rebuild, likely in the same place, but said next time he will have an underground storm shelter.

"That is the first thing that will be going into the design of the house, is the storm shelter and the garage," he said as he looked around piles of bricks and plywood where their home once stood.

Patteson's home was among as many as 13,000 homes damaged or destroyed Monday when the twister plowed through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore. About 33,000 people were affected, officials said, though the number left homeless was still unknown because most of the displaced were believed to be staying with friends or relatives; only two dozen or so have stayed overnight at Red Cross shelters.

Officials estimated the damage could top $2 billion.

At the same time, more details emerged on the human toll, including heartbreaking stories about the final moments of some of the children who were among the 24 people killed. One elementary school was reduced to rubble when the tornado hit. Another was heavily damaged.

While anguish over the deaths was palpable as residents began to pick up their shattered neighborhoods, many remained stunned that the twister didn't take a higher human toll during its 40 minutes on the ground.

"The tornado that we're talking about is the 1 or 2 percent tornado," Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management Director Albert Ashwood said of the twister, which measured a top-of-the-scale EF5 with winds of at least 200 mph. "This is the anomaly that flattens everything to the ground."

The medical examiner reported that six of the children who died at the Plaza Towers Elementary School suffocated after being buried under a mass of bricks, steel and other materials as the building collapsed. A seventh child who perished there, 8-year-old Kyle Davis, was killed instantly by an object — perhaps a large piece of stone or a beam — that fell on the back of his neck.

The first of the funerals is to take place Thursday morning, for 9-year-old Antonia Candelaria, who also died at the school.

With all of the missing now accounted for, response teams transitioned into cleanup and recovery, and authorities formally allowed residents back into the damage zone Wednesday to start the monumental task of rebuilding their lives.

Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis said Wednesday he would propose an ordinance in the next couple of days to require all new homes to have storm shelters.

The city already has some. After a massive tornado tore a near-identical path in 1999, city authorities provided incentives such as federal grant dollars to help residents cover the costs of safe rooms. This time, though, Lewis thinks it is necessary to compel people to include them in all new construction.

The scale of the destruction is also bound to lead to higher insurance premiums for homeowners, said Dan Ramsey, president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Oklahoma.

"Three years of hail bombardments of apocalyptic proportions, and then this? It has to result in some give someplace," Ramsey said.

Residents clearing massive piles of debris were trying to get hold of essentials such as mobile phones and prescription drugs lost in the destruction. Cellular service providers set up mobile retail outlets and charging stations. At least one was offering free phone calls and loaner phones.

Insurance companies have also set up emergency operation centers to take calls from people trying to get prescriptions filled and handle other health care needs.

Elsewhere in town, several hundred volunteers took it upon themselves to clean the city cemetery, which was covered in debris, so it would be ready for Memorial Day. Some veterans are buried there and it's where the town's residents gather on the holiday, placing flowers and flags among the gravestones.

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Feathers Fly Over Chicken-Slaughtering Performance Art

• by Alicia Graef
• May 22, 2013
  
  
  
  

Last month a student at the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) slaughtered a chicken in the cafeteria for an art project that resulted in the police being called and a teacher getting fired.

“He just decided to slowly slit its throat while it’s wiggling, wriggling and screaming and then drained it out, popped its head off, strung it up, washed it, plucked it,” Breydon Stangland, a student who witnessed the act, described for the CBC.

Needless to say there were mixed reactions. While some were supportive, many students expressed outrage with at least one calling the police at the time, but police said the act was sanctioned by a teacher and was part of a project to perform an act of protest.

Gord Fergusen, the instructor, was fired from his position as head of the sculpture department following the incident. The college issued a statement to the effect that Fergusen wasn’t fired over academic or artistic freedom, but because of the perception about the school that the incident created.

Fergusen has since gotten his job back, but many are still left questioning the ethical boundaries of using animals in art.

While we all have varying opinions in our personal beliefs regarding the use of animals, most of us would at least agree that their suffering should be minimized. Unfortunately, there are still some who torture, maim and kill animals in the name of art, attempting to reach the ranks of the avant-garde, while trying to convince people they have created something of value.

From tattooed dogs and pigs and goldfish in a blender to more disturbing works, including Guillermo Vargas’ starving dog exhibit and Adel Abdessemed’s looping video that shows him murdering live animals in front of a brick wall for an exhibit titled “Don’t Trust Me.” Then there’s Katika Sinonse, aka Tinkerbell, who killed her cat to make a purse out of it…in order to raise awareness about animal cruelty and the way animals are used by society. Unfortunately, her cat wasn’t her only victim.

Can these acts of cruelty really be considered a form of art that has value to society? Or is it the attempt of simple minds to get away with something grotesque by trying to attach a deeper meaning to the brutality they inflict on their innocent victims?

Mary Britton Clouse, Director of Chicken Run Rescue and Justice for Animals Arts Guild, summed it up eloquently in written response to the ACAD “performance”:

Art is about ideas. Animals are not ideas. They are as real as we are. Their suffering and deprivation are psychologically and biologically indisputable, in the present, and mean the world to each individual animal. No act of self-expression is worth the life or liberty of another.

Self-censorship is exercised by artists every moment of every day. The species used in violent art almost always conveniently fall into categories of animals afforded the least, or no, legal protection and consideration: animals used for food or experimentation, and “pests.” Violence toward another human being would never be mistaken for free expression, and neither should this.

The lack of critical thinking on the part of the student who committed the act, the students who failed to stop him, and the teacher’s apparent approval of it, are stunning. What is being defended is deeply ordinary, run-of-the-mill, unremarkable, unexceptional, average, mediocre, pedestrian, prosaic, lackluster, dull, bland, uninteresting, mundane; hackneyed, trite, banal, clichéd, predictable, stale, tired and unoriginal. Show me something new and farsighted beyond the hole humanity has dug for itself.

Our right to free expression shouldn’t trump another living being’s right to exist free from harm, regardless of the species. There are still many other artists who use their talents and work to engage audiences in other ways and use art as a means of expressing and inspiring awe at the natural world and the creatures we share it with… those who use art to start conversations without causing harm.

You don’t need to shoot someone in the head to start a conversation about gun violence and certainly don’t need to torture or kill an animal to start a conversation about the ways we’re already torturing and killing them …and attempt to justify it by calling it art.

Related: Animal Crush Videos are Protected by the First Amendment