Arson probe after asylum home for children burns
Swedish police are investigating a blaze at a home for refugee children in Lund, the latest in a string of suspected arson attacks on accommodation facilities for asylum seekers.
Staff at the home for unaccompanied minors, which is also a residence for disabled people, were able to put out the fire themselves shortly after 10pm on Monday evening. No one was injured.
Police have launched a probe into the blaze in the southern Swedish town, which they believe was started deliberately, investigating arson and possible hate crime motives.
“There is absolutely no natural explanation to the fire,” control room officer Magnus Lefévre told Swedish public broadcaster SVT late on Monday.
Earlier in the evening alarms were raised after a number of minor fires at a planned centre for refugee housing at the Kikebo school in Oskarshamn. Witnesses spotted two people throwing rocks through a window and lighting pages from the Bible on fire, reported SVT.
READ ALSO: Officials called to parliament after fires
Another fire at a centre in Munkedal last week. Photo: Adam Ihse/TT
Concerns over the safety of refugees in Sweden have grown after the series of fires. The latest suspicious blazes happened on Friday night, following more than a dozen similar attacks since the start of the year.
Sweden expects to receive up to 190,000 asylum applications this year – putting it among the EU states with the highest proportion of refugees per capita.
Of those, 29,000 to 40,000 are expected to be children travelling alone.
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Staff at the home for unaccompanied minors, which is also a residence for disabled people, were able to put out the fire themselves shortly after 10pm on Monday evening. No one was injured.
Police have launched a probe into the blaze in the southern Swedish town, which they believe was started deliberately, investigating arson and possible hate crime motives.
“There is absolutely no natural explanation to the fire,” control room officer Magnus Lefévre told Swedish public broadcaster SVT late on Monday.
Earlier in the evening alarms were raised after a number of minor fires at a planned centre for refugee housing at the Kikebo school in Oskarshamn. Witnesses spotted two people throwing rocks through a window and lighting pages from the Bible on fire, reported SVT.
READ ALSO: Officials called to parliament after fires
Another fire at a centre in Munkedal last week. Photo: Adam Ihse/TT
Concerns over the safety of refugees in Sweden have grown after the series of fires. The latest suspicious blazes happened on Friday night, following more than a dozen similar attacks since the start of the year.
Sweden expects to receive up to 190,000 asylum applications this year – putting it among the EU states with the highest proportion of refugees per capita.
Of those, 29,000 to 40,000 are expected to be children travelling alone.
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