Conference turris::scandia

158.0. "Stockholm police seize Peruvian baby" by TLE::SAVAGE (Neil, @Spit Brook) Mon Oct 27 1986 12:13

Associated Press Sun 26-OCT-1986 18:36                    Sweden-Baby Evicted

                     Baby Evicted by Heavily Armed Police
    
    STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - At least 20 heavily armed policemen with dogs
    stormed into a suburban flat to seize an 18-month-old Peruvian girl who
    is being expelled from Sweden along with her parents, newspapers
    reported Sunday.                      
    
    Helmeted police wearing bulletproof vests and toting machine guns
    stormed the apartment in Jakobsberg north of Stockholm on Friday night
    to get the girl, who was being cared for by Swedish relatives,
    according to the reports, which were confirmed by police. 
    
    On Sunday night, Carin Ewald, chief superintendent of Stockholm police,
    said in an interview with Swedish television's Channel 2 that the child
    would be taken back to the relatives. However, it was not known if the
    decision to deport the baby and her parents was altered. 
    
    The baby, named Agneta, was born in Sweden to Peruvian parents whose
    application for political asylum was turned down by the Swedish
    government on Thursday. Press reports said the girl's parents, whose
    names were not available, went into hiding. 
    
    Police said they went into the apartment heavily armed because the
    baby's parents were regarded as dangerous. The baby and her parents
    were being expelled along with four other Peruvians on grounds they
    were members of the Maoist-oriented Shining Path guerrilla group, which
    is fighting the Peruvian government and is considered a terrorist
    organization by Sweden. 
    
    "They stormed into the flat, dragged me and my husband out and took the
    child with them. There were at least 20 of them," said the relative
    caring for the child. The relative, identified only as Maritta, 29,
    spoke to the newspaper Dagens Nyheter. The girl was taken to a refugee
    center in the Stockholm area, a police spokesman said. 
    
    Sweden's Save the Children Fund on Sunday condemned the eviction as
    contrary to the Geneva Convention, while Amnesty International's
    Swedish chapter urged the government of Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson
    to reconsider its decision on the expulsions. It said the seven risked
    "being tortured and even executed" by authorities in Peru if they are
    returned, according to a report by the national news agency TT. 
    
    Immigration Minister Georg Andersson said of the police action, "Small
    children should not be taken hostage."