Last February 1, a video went viral of policemen removing a pregnant woman against her will from the metro in the Hötorget Station in Stockholm, Sweden.
Videos that were uploaded on social media shows the transit officers forcibly escorting the woman out of the train and making her lay on her heavily pregnant stomach on the platform bench in order to handcuff her. The woman, only known as Jeanine, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, along with a young child, were rushing to the hospital due to the contractions she was feeling. In the middle of the subway ride, transit officers did a random ticket check, she couldn’t find her subway card in a panic to reach the hospital quickly. According to the police, Jeanine got violent when they issued her a fine and requested her to get off the train.
“I took the fine and threw it on the ground. I was angry at myself for losing the card.” Jeanine told the New York Times.
She eventually found her subway card and showed it to the officers, but at the point, it was too late because they already recorded and given her a citation.
Jeanine was eventually brought to the hospital after falling and sustaining an injury during the scuffle with the police.
This incident has started a fiery debate in Sweden regarding racial profiling and excessive violence that the police have portrayed when dealing with other minorities. In the recent years, anti-immigrant discussions have been on the rise and the Swedish civil rights advocates have noticed instances wherein people of other races are being more and more racially profiled in their everyday lives.
Jeanine told the New York Times: “I don’t think a white woman would have to go through this. I was treated like an animal.”
After an internal investigation led by Stockholm’s SL public transport provider, two of the security guards have been suspended for gross misconduct, while they are also investigating the side of the pregnant woman for violently resisting the initially calm efforts of the guards removing her off the train.
“I’ve understood that there are many films from mobile cameras that have been posted about this that suggest that the security guards were too forceful. Unfortunately, it is difficult to make reasonable judgments in these situations. It gets stressed. Evidently this was not handled correctly the whole way through” Henrik Palmér, the spokesperson from SL told Swedish public broadcaster SVT.
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