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CRIMINAL

Busy Midsummer’s Eve for Swedish police

Police forces across Sweden had a busy evening on Friday with widespread drunkenness, fighting, a mugging, and a stabbing reported as the country celebrated Midsummer.

Busy Midsummer's Eve for Swedish police

Gothenburg police reported that the festivities were little worse than a regular weekend although other locations across the west coast experienced a sharp increase in drunkenness and assault.

Marstrand, Kungshamn, Smögen and Grebbestad were among the worst hit by the Midsummer revelry.

Some 29 people were taken into custody for drunkenness and in Kungshamn there was report of a mugging at an ATM.

A man was stabbed in Sollentuna in northern Stockholm and police have a launched an investigation into attempted murder.

Police only came across the victim after they had been called to investigate a case of vandalism of a bus in the suburb.

In Oskarshamn in southern Sweden a man was rushed to hospital at 4am suffering from severe burns following a car accident just north of town.

The man’s car had caught fire in the accident and he had to be pulled free by some friends.

In Nyköping in eastern Sweden a man in his 40s was arrested on suspicion of firearms offences and aggravated assault after having spent his Midsummer Eve threatening several people with guns.

The man was involved in a car accident in his car just outside of Nyköping and when passers-by stopped to help him, he pointed a gun at them.

They however managed to overpower the man, seize his gun, and hold him until the police arrived.

There were also reports of a serious assault in Veberöd in southern Sweden with one man reported to have sustained serious injuries.

But it wasn’t all violence and crime in Sweden on Friday, with police in Dalarna – a popular location for celebrating Swedes – reporting that the county was relatively calm.

“A nice and safe Midsummer,” Göran Lekander at Dalarna police said.

In perennial trouble spot Borgholm on Öland around 20 people were detained for drunkenness as well as some five cases of assault and two of drunk driving.

“A lot of mess and trouble, but no serious incidents,” was the summary by Kalmar and Kronoberg police chief Catarina Karlsson.

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SWEDEN

Ten things to hate about Midsummer in Sweden

Okay, we love Midsummer. But one must admit... there are a few things that can get on your nerves.

Ten things to hate about Midsummer in Sweden
Because the weather is always like this. Photo: Werner Nystrand/Folio/imagebank.sweden.se

This is a revamp of this old gallery article first published by The Local in 2014.

1. The day after Midsummer

It's still raining, and you've got a throbbing migraine and nausea in your stomach. And you keep thinking, “It's not worth it”. But you'll do it all over again next year…


Not worth it. Not worth it. Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT

2. Throat-charring booze

They don't call it “brännvin” (literally 'fire wine') for nothing. Despite attempts to dress up this second-rate moonshine with fancy names and flavours like elderberry or blackcurrant, the swill downed following songs sung around the Midsummer table will most certainly leave a bad taste in your mouth.


Snaps, akvavit or brännvin. It's got many names, but it doesn't change its flavour. Photo: Gorm Kallestad/NTB scanpix/TT

3. Enough with the herring already!

Why, WHY does every Swedish holiday require one to down copious helpings of pickled herring? No matter how many pieces of crisp bread or newly boiled 'fresh potatoes' you have with it, sill is still slimy and sour. More than enough herring is consumed at Easter or Christmas to amply satisfy the annual herring intake – so why not spend Midsummer grilling instead?

MEMBERS' QUIZ: Test your Swedish Midsummer knowledge

Herring, herring everywhere. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

4. The weather

It's the longest and supposedly the sunniest day of the year. But you know it won't be. It's bound to rain, or at least the threat of rain will hang over your head all day long. It may even snow (we're not kidding).


It will invariably start to rain. Photo: Susanne Nilsson /Flickr

5. Ridiculous costumes

Some may find them cute or endearing, but the traditional blue and yellow get-ups worn by many on Midsummer is just plain wrong for any number of reasons. For starters, what exactly does a pagan holiday rooted in the Middle Ages have to do with a contrived symbol for Swedish nationalism dating to the end of the early 1900s? If you want to look like a Smurf who spilt a can of yellow paint in your lap, be my guest – but save it for National Day, June 6th.

People wearing Swedish regional traditional wear. Photo: [kajsa] / Flickr

6. The curse of high expectations

Isn't it enough to have one holiday a year where we look back and inevitably feel let down by all that wasn't? Not unlike New Year's, Midsummer is so wrapped up in people's idealised images of how things are supposed to be that it's nearly impossible to come away feeling like the experience lived up to pre-show billing, no matter how much alcohol is consumed.


Midsummer… yay… Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

7. The mosquitoes

This is Midsummer, not Halloween! But it's summer and it's wet and the troops of blood-suckers are on the march. You insist on wearing your summer gear, which means your arms and legs will be covered by big red welts…

Photo: Maria Morri/ Flickr

8. Dancing frogs and prancing pigs

Soon after the Maypole has reached its fully erect state, Midsummer revellers enter some sort of zombie-like trance which prompts them to make utter buffoons of themselves by dancing and singing in a series of ill-formed concentric circles.

READ ALSO: The seven bizarre traditions that make up Swedish Midsummer

Watching Swedes fumble through “Små grodorna” ('Little frogs') is a bit like witnessing a slow-motion auditory and visual train wreck which leaves one's psyche scarred.

 

Un post condiviso da Frida Hjorth (@fridahjorth) in data: 29 Giu 2016 alle ore 23:10 PDT

9. It's the beginning of the end.

Indeed, the worst thing about Midsummer in Sweden is that it's the beginning of the end of the season of seemingly never-ending light. Even if you somehow manage to get through the snaps and sill, there's no escaping the fact that it's all downhill from here.

The days get shorter, the weather won’t get much warmer, and before you know it we'll be dusting off those winter boots again and watching the sunset on our lunch hours. (Sigh).

10. Not being Swedish

Then there are those of us who will never be Swedish. We don't have that little red cottage in the countryside. We weren't raised with midsummer celebrations, and we certainly weren't raised with sill. And we are thus cursed to either overdo it, or simply never “get it”.

Pickled herring and snaps? Still don't get it. Photo: Melker Dahlstrand/Image Bank Sweden

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