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Cars set on fire as unrest grips Swedish suburb

Xinhua, June 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

Seven people were detained after two cars were set on fire on Thursday in a suburb of the southern Swedish city of Malmo.

Police suspected that the fires were linked to an incident on Wednesday evening when a hand grenade was thrown into a garage, public broadcaster SVT reported.

"We were alerted to the scene shortly after midnight and discovered that a car and a meeting room had been set on fire," regional duty officer Lars Lindwall told SVT.

The fire in the room, adjacent to a youth center, was put out quickly with no reports of injuries or serious damage to the property. Later on, two cars were set ablaze and seven people aged between 16 and 27 were detained on charges of vandalism.

"We can see tendencies that point toward social unrest," task force commander Claes Bohmer told SVT.

"We had increased police presence here (on Wednesday) and one might suspect there is some discontent as a consequence, which prompted the night's events," he added.

Police in the area witnessed the cars being set on fire before making the arrests. "Our pre-trial outlook is very strong," Bohmer said.

The unrest was the third night of disturbance in a week in the suburb of Kroksback. On Saturday, two triggered hand grenades were found in the area.

Police said several residents were worried after Thursday's disquiet. Endit