Swedish Left Party MP Daniel Riazat has called on Swedes to purposely hide illegal migrants and bogus asylum seekers set for deportation from police in a social media post this week.
Mr Riazat made his post in reaction to an incident that took place at a school where his father is employed in the city of Falun in central Sweden that saw a student removed by police because of an existing deportation order, Nyheter Idag reports.
“My message to all who can: Hide a refugee. If it becomes illegal. Hide two! It’s called Civil Courage and Humanity!” Riazat wrote on social media platform Facebook.
“Should kids not even feel safe at school anymore?! What the hell is wrong with you disgusting people who can even imagine working with the police to expel your students?” Riazat said.
The sentiment is not the first controversial statement made by Riazat in recent years. In 2018, he blamed a series of car fires in Västra Frölunda in Gothenburg on the far right.
“The night’s events with masked men burning a large number of cars with one month left for the election were well-organised. Wouldn’t surprise me if the extreme right was involved in any way,” he said.
When questioned as to what made him think far-right extremists were behind the attack, Riazat had no answer beyond stating: “I said it wouldn’t surprise me.”
The social media post also comes just weeks after a former Social Democrat politician was arrested for allegedly helping to smuggle migrants into Sweden illegally.
Syrian-born Rashad Alasaad was the subject of an investigation by Swedish newspaper Expressen, which revealed that he charged 3,000 euros for adults and 2,000 for children for passport documents to help them reach Sweden.
His arrest, in turn, took place just over a year after Swedish journalist Fredrik Önnevall was convicted of people-smuggling. Önnevall, along with three others, helped smuggle a 15-year-old Syrian boy from Greece in 2014.
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