Officers were forced to call in reinforcements when a crowd began to gather in the neighborhood of Rinkeby during the arrest of a suspect, according to a Stockholm police statement.
The spate of violence comes just days after US President Donald Trump suggested that immigrants in Sweden were to blame for an increase in crime across the country.
Several people threw stones at police Monday night, striking one officer in the arm. As the situation escalated, police fired warning shots to disperse the crowd and one shot at a rioter, a police spokesperson told CNN’s Ivan Watson.
More riots erupted later in the evening, causing damage to shopfronts as well as instances of looting. A police spokesperson said 10 cars had been torched.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the unrest but said order and security had been restored by midnight.
A CNN team in the area on Tuesday saw evidence of the damage: The doors of Rinkeby’s subway station had been smashed, and other broken windows were covered in temporary plastic sheeting, but the burned-out cars had already been cleared away.
Rinkeby, Stockholm a day after a riot. Some broken windows & police.Also families w/kids going about their daily life
“Of course it is very serious that the police officers are attacked when doing their job. What we see may be a result of our increased pressure on criminals in the area,” Stockholm regional police chief Ulf Johansson said. “But I can assure that we are resilient and will not leave, rather intensify our work.”