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Gothenburg shootings surge in two years

After a man was shot dead through his kitchen window in Gothenburg this weekend, local police said easier access to weapons has lead to one shooting a week in the western Sweden city.

Gothenburg shootings surge in two years

“It’s been really easy for criminals to get their hands on weapons and they don’t hesitate to use them,” Erik Nord of the Västra Götaland police told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper (DN).

DN reported that for the past two years, Sweden’s second largest city has seen on average one shooting a week.

In the weekend’s shooting, two men were hit through a kitchen window, killing one, injuring the other. DN reported that both men were already known to the police.

The paper reported that many nearby residents were willing to talk of the incident, but refused to give their names.

Between 2006 and 2010, there were on average 33 shootings per year. Since 2011, however, there have been 51 and 52 shootings per year respectively.

This year has seen 15 shootings in Gothenburg so far.

Almost half of the shootings between 2010 and 2011 were gang related, according to police.

TT/The Local/og

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POLITICS

Red-green coalition takes power in Gothenburg

The Social Democrats, Green Party and Left Party have managed to oust the right-wing Moderates from power in Gothenburg, despite failing to strike a coalition deal with the Centre Party.

Red-green coalition takes power in Gothenburg

The Social Democrats, Left Party and Green Party will now take over the municipality with Jonas Attenius, group leader for the Social Democrats in the city, becoming the new mayor.

“We three parties are ready to together take responsibility for leading Gothenburg,” Attenius wrote to TT. “I am looking forward immensely to leading Gothenburg in the coming years.” 

The three parties will lead a minority government, with 40 out of 81 mandates, meaning it will dependent on mandates from the Centre Party to pass proposals. 

The three parties had hoped to bring the Centre Party into the coalition, but talks fell apart on Monday,  October 24th. 

“We our going into opposition, but our goal is to be an independent, liberal force, which can negotiate both to the left and to the right,” the party’s group leader in Gothenburg, Emmyly Bönfors told the Göteborgs-Posten newspaper. 

The end of talks in Gothenburg leave the Social Democrats leading coalition governments in all three of Sweden’s major cities, with Karin Wanngård appointed Mayor of Stockholm on October 17th. 

The Social Democrats had unbroken control in Malmö since 1994, after they regained power from the Moderates, who controlled the city from 1991-1994, and also from 1985-1988. 

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