Police have evicted a large group of Romanian migrants who had set up temporary living arrangements in a suburb of northern Stockholm.
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A group of demonstrators were on the scene on Thursday morning in Helenelund, northern Stockholm, to meet the police, and were beating drums and chanting for the rights of the migrants. One of the demonstrators told Sveriges Television (SVT) that they were trying to stop the eviction. "This is the third time they’ve been forced to move. This place is ideal though, there are no houses in the area," the protester said.
Another said that one of the migrants was in tears.
Jonas Lundgren, a Left Party politician in Sollentuna, told Sveriges Radio that eviction was not the best solution.
"They are sick, vulnerable, and poor. Now the municipality wants to evict them from what little they have, and which they call home. This is not worthy of a democratic society like Sweden in 2014," he said.
Police estimated that there were 100 Romanians living in the area where they had set up camp near the Helenelund commuter train station.
"Most have left during the night, now there are around 15-20 of them still here," Mona Johansson of the Norrort police told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper on Thursday morning.
Police were there to help the Swedish Enforcement Agency (Kronofogden) with the eviction. Both were also on hand in late February to evict migrants from Högdalen, a suburb in the southern reaches of Stockholm. Those campers were given a free bus ride home.