Riots put Sweden's open-door immigration policy in spotlight

Sweden's worst riots in years might benefit a far-right party in elections next year if scenes of immigrants burning cars and smashing up buildings cause voters to rethink their traditional welcome to foreigners. The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party shot to third place in polls earlier this year and the riots could help them secure more political clout at 2014 elections.

Many Nordic anti-immigration parties - backed by just a small minority in a region famous for its tolerance of minorities - lost support after Anders Behring Breivik, a white supremacist, murdered 77 people in Norway in 2011. But they are once again on the rise.

Opinion polls show most Swedes support immigration and that many are more tolerant of foreigners than 20 years ago. But while those opposed to immigration are in a minority, their number may be on the rise and could be further boosted by the riots.

Some 15 percent of Sweden's population is foreign born (compared to 11% in the US), the highest in the Nordic region. Asylum seekers in particular are drawn by Sweden's robust economy and tradition of helping refugees.

Sweden's liberal-minded mainstream parties are concerned about what happened in Denmark when an anti-immigrant party held the balance of power in the last government, pushing policies including tightening border controls that fuelled tension with other European nations.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/27/us-sweden-riots-idUSBRE94Q0E620130527

The far-right is anti-immigrant in Europe, the US and everywhere else. It is part of who they are in that they view the world as "US" vs. "THEM" and their policy goal is to keep THEM and THEIR stuff away from US and OUR stuff.