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Police kept busy on Midsummer's Eve

The Local Sweden
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Police kept busy on Midsummer's Eve

A busy evening was had by police forces across Sweden on Friday with widespread drunkenness and fighting as the country celebrated Midsummer.

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Halland police officers were among those with busier that normal Friday nights, according to Kajsa Barkström, duty deputy police chief.

"Drunkenness and fights have used up all our resources," she said to news agency TT on Saturday.

Maria Lavesson at Jönköping police also reported of a "messy" evening with one police officer reported injured.

"The police officer did not sustain any life-threatening injuries, but will not be able to work for a while," she said.

A man was arrested in Eskilstuna after he kicked a police officer in the head. Again there were no serious injuries sustained.

Gothenburg reported a slew of suspected gunfire incidents but it remained unclear on Saturday whether guns were in fact fired or whether the explosions could have been due to something else.

"This could have been fireworks," said Ulf Lörstad at Gothenburg police.

Lörstad reported that summer solstice celebrations caused significantly more work for police officers that a normal Friday night.

His colleague in Stockholm, Albin Näverberg, reported however that the police workload in the capital was typical of a fairly regular weekend evening.

Kenneth Sundin in Uppsala reported that there was widespread drunkenness in the county but no serious offences reported.

Rain later in the day managed to cool off disturbances in Gävleborg county while several reports of drunkenness, fighting and assaults were made during the day.

"The rain has dampened the celebrations," confirmed Margareta Olander at Gävleborg police.

In Skåne and Blekinge, it was also "much like a normal weekend," according to police informer Mia Sandgren. A similar assessment was made by Michael Liljeberg, duty officer in Västerbotten.

Other areas of southern and south-eastern Sweden reported fairly calm evenings with isolated incidents of drunken revelry but no serious offences reported.

TT/The Local/pvs Follow The Local on Twitter

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