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In Kalix, hit by a decline in the paper industry but still a bastion of Social Democrat support, residents have petitioned the council to abandon plans for a center for around 30 unaccompanied children.
"I have a big heart and I believe we have to help, so it's not about that, but enough is enough," said Anne-Maj Ostlund, a 75-year-old retired school teacher who lives close to the yellow-painted wooden villa in Kalix, being used as a hostel
"I have lived in heaven here … it is peaceful," said Ostlund, who has lived in the same house since 1948. "What is going to be left?"
Middle class neighborhoods in Stockholm and Gothenburg have seen meetings where furious citizens have questioned politicians over refugees' housing.
Police were called to one meeting in Haninge, near Stockholm, where the local authority had gathered residents and parents of pupils at a nearby school to inform them about plans for a center for unaccompanied minors.
Council workers were met by shouts of "they are going to rape our children," and "who will take responsibility when someone dies".
Mainstream parties in Sweden are now proposing measures against immigration that were only the ground of the far right a few years ago. Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who once told crowds that "My Europe does not build walls", tightened asylum rules and border controls with ID checks.
In Denmark a bill tightening immigration laws, including the confiscation of refugees’ valuables, passed with overwhelming support including the center-left Social Democrats.
Sweden's Moderate Party, the biggest of the center-right opposition, wants to limit asylum seekers' access to welfare.
It was a sign of the times that when Sweden's center left interior minister said the government would deport 80,000 immigrants this year, former Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted the "probable aim is to send a signal that new ones are not welcome."
The concerns are not just related to security but that the Nordic state is under threPost too long. Click here to view the full text.