Swedish City to Spend Over a Billion Dollars to Fix No-Go Zones

The Swedish city of Gothenburg is looking to spend over a billion U.S. dollars in an effort to remove the city’s six no-go zones from a police list of vulnerable neighbourhoods.

The local government has pledged to spend 11 billion Swedish kronor ($1.28 billion/£964 million) on investment in the six areas of the city that have been deemed “particularly vulnerable” areas, in order to have them removed from the official police listing in the next five years.

The money is set to be invested in security, new construction projects, removal of graffiti, and improved waste management systems, according to a report from broadcaster SVT.

Terje Johansson, CEO of the company Framtiden, who help businesses hire staff in a variety of industries, said the ambitious goal of moving the areas from ‘particularly vulnerable’ to ‘vulnerable’ on the list is possible.

Johansson noted that the area of Gårdsten had been changed, largely due to the involvement in the area of a municipal housing company, although that took 22 years.

The majority of the cash, 7.5 billion kronor, will go toward construction projects in the areas of Biskopsgården, Tynnered, Hjällbo, Bergsjön, Hammarkullen, and Lövgärdet over a period of ten years.

The rest of the money will go toward what the city government refers to as “super management”, including security on-site seven days a week, a zero-tolerance policy to crime, no illegal renting or subletting in the areas, and swift clean up of vandalism and graffiti.

In September it emerged that the police in the city were growing increasingly concerned about growing ethnic violence between gangs involved in the drug trade in the city.

“There are regular large violent clashes in central Gothenburg between young Afghans and especially young Syrians, but also Somalis where they fight for good drug sales. There have been several stabbings in connection with these brawls and police have on various occasions found street fighting weapons,” a police intelligence report stated.

Just weeks before, gangs set up roadblocks in certain areas of the city and demanded local residents obey a curfew instituted by the gangs themselves in what was described by Gothenburg Police Chief Erik Nord as a “demonstration of power.”

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com