An attacker threw three Molotov cocktails at a church in the no-go Stockholm suburb of Spånga-Tensta.
The arson attack took place on Wednesday at around 4 a.m., with the suspect throwing one of the bottle bombs at the church’s door and the other two at the windows, smashing them.
Pastor Jerker Alsterlund told Swedish broadcaster SVT: “It is a strong act of symbolism against a church. Why anyone would want to do this, I don’t know.”
“We have had no threats or anything like that,” he added.
According to the broadcaster, a parish hall in the area had been the target of a similar attack in December 2018, when an explosive was detonated at the building. No suspects were ever arrested.
The attack took place in one of Stockholm’s no-go suburbs, with Spånga-Tensta being located just a few miles from the infamous no-go area of Rinkeby. In 2017, Sweden’s chief prosecutor Lise Tamm described Rinkeby as a “war zone”.
That same year, both Tensta and Rinkeby were featured in a video showing youths attacking police officers. The police bodycam footage also showed the youths insulting and taunting the officers, telling them: “You are not in charge here.”
Attacks on churches are far from unprecedented in Sweden. Last year, vandals attacked a church in the multicultural southern city of Malmö for seven days in a row, forcing the Evangelical Lutheran Church to set up nightly patrols.
In the municipality of Ronneby, meanwhile, a violent mob beat an immigrant after he attempted to stop them from setting a church on fire during a riot.