Decision: Police Forcing Begging Woman to Leave Is Against the Law

The Stockholm Police was in the wrong to force a Romanian woman, who begged outside a store in the capital, to move and then leave her several kilometres from where she was sitting. This happened on more than one occasion. Today, the Parliamentary Ombudsman (JO) delivered its decision, which criticised the police and stated that their actions were against the law. 

In October 2018, Civil Rights Defenders and Föreningen Hem submitted a complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman (JO) against the police.

The decision by the Stockholm Police to force people who beg to leave doesn’t have any legal support and is a general problem. Civil Rights Defenders cooperates with other organisations which testify that these sort of police actions also occur in other parts of Sweden.

“It is very positive that the Parliamentary Ombudsman endorses our view and criticises the police. The Swedish Police Authority now needs to incorporate the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s decision and ensure that individual police officers act in accordance with the law”, says John Stauffer, Legal Director at Civil Rights Defenders.

Research for the complaint has been done in close collaboration with Amnesty Sverige.