Sweden migration debate heats up as Swedish PM calls for tougher border controls after terror attack
Swedish PM calls for tougher border controls
Questions have been raised about border control in the European Union following a terrorist attack in Brussels which left two football fans dead.
In the incident, which took place on Monday evening at the King Baudouin Stadium, two fans wearing Sweden shirts were gunned down, along with a third victim who survived with serious injuries.
As a result of the attack, fans inside the stadium for the Euro 2024 qualifying match were order to remain there to ensure their safety, with the last supports allowed to leave at around 4am.
The suspect, 45-year-old Abdeselam Lassoued, who posted a video online identifying himself as a member of the Islamic State, was confirmed to have been shot dead by police at a cafe near his home in the Schaerbeek neighbourhood in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Belgian police secure the area after a shooting in BrusselsREUTERSFears of terror in Europe are at a high, following multiple attacks and threats in the last few days, including the fatal stabbing of a French teacher on Friday which was tied to the Islamic State.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson discussed the attack.
“All indications are that this is a terror attack aimed at Sweden and Swedish citizens only due to them being Swedish.”
“These terrorists want to scare us into obedience and silence. That will not happen,” he added. “This is a time for more security, we can’t be naive.”
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Sweden football fans console each other after their country's match with Belgium was abandoned following terror attackGETTYMeanwhile Belgian PM Alexander De Croo confirmed in his own press conference that Lassoued had been denied asylum in Belgium and was living in the country illegally.
Speaking about the attack on GB News’ paper review show Headliners, comedian Adam Bloom said: “They say he spent some time there. I mean, nothing bad happened to him there.”
On the renewed concerns about border control across Europe, and the attempt to root out those with terrorist ideologies, Bloom said “If you open the borders at least you've got no more angry people.”
Host Simon Evans chimed in, saying, “There's a tiny grain, I wouldn't say of truth, but that is the way that some people think about it. That you create the friction, that you create the anger because these people think that they're being kept out and denied access to the good stuff.”
Belgian police were on the scene after the terror attack in BrusselsGETTYHowever, comedian Lewis Schaffer disagreed with this sentiment: “So when the Jehovah's Witnesses come to my door, I have to talk to them. No you don't have to. That's totally ridiculous. The fact is is that is that he killed three!”
Simon Evans rounded off the discussion with his concerns over the number of supporters terror groups have within Britain itself.
“I mean we saw the size of the march. Pro-Palestinian, not pro-Hamas, in London. We know the number of people there. Even if a small percentage of those people are in favour of a mass using the the extreme terror they did…”
“It's not like a handful of people that you can deport, or round up or whatever. You know, this is a sizeable part of the demographic of Western Europe.”