An urgent dispatch from the Swedish-Iraqi Minister of Information. It's all in your head. Malmo is as safe as houses. Do you have any no go zones? We have no no go zones!
Sweden's embassy in Budapest has sharply rebuked Hungary after an official leaflet claimed that Stockholm and other European cities had become "no-go areas".
Flyers warning of "hundreds of no-go areas in European cities", which highlighted Stockholm along with London, Brussels, Marseille, Berlin and the Copenhagen-Malmö area, were this month sent to millions of households in Hungary
ahead of its referendum next month on EU refugee quotas, reports the Financial Times.
The leaflets claimed that migrants have overrun hundreds of "no-go" areas in Europe which "the authorities cannot keep under control" and where "the norms of the host society (…) barely prevail".
Counsellor Anna Boda, the Deputy Head of Mission at the Swedish Embassy in Hungary, told The Local via email on Friday that representatives from Sweden, as well as Germany and the UK, have been in contact with Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijarto to protest against "the false information".
"It is important to us that accurate information about Sweden is given to the citizens of Hungary. The embassy has therefore had reason to object sharply to a map of Europe with red markings in a handful of member states, including Sweden, in which the Hungarian government claims that so-called 'no-go zones' exist, where police and the state have no control over citizens' safety," she said.
Why the very idea.
A number of Swedish cities, including Gothenburg and Malmö, have hit the headlines recently over spates of car burnings and unrest. Police have listed 15 districts in Sweden as "especially vulnerable areas" where crime and poverty rates are high. However, they are not formally referred to as 'no-go zones'.
"It is important to be clear: such zones, however they are labelled or defined, do not exist in Sweden. It is of course very unfortunate when, as in this case, incorrect information is spread to Hungarian citizens who thereby risk getting a biased picture of our Europe and individual member states," said Boda.
Malmo is just fine. Just fine. ISIS attacks happen there without anyone noticing. And Malmo becoming a no go zone for Jews has been reported by such notorious right-wing racist outlets as The Atlantic and Newsweek, No go zones? Absurd. That must be why the Jews fled Malmo. Because it's a lovely diverse place that people who aren't reading the Koran are careful about setting foot into.
But No Go Zone? Don't be silly. There are no no go zones in Sweden. Just zones you don't go into.