Coronavirus in Sweden
Feb 13, 2022, 2:06 am
#2836
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With regard to the above claim that "non-Police passport checkers can't restrict anyone from anything, they can merely refer your case to the police for proper review", have you as a non-citizen of a Nordic Passport Union country tried to blitz around the "non-Police passport checkers" on arrival to Sweden at the Swedish ports of entry and see what happens after pushing your way beyond "the non-Police passport checkers" without the "non-Police passport checkers" approval at a Swedish port of entry?
Feb 13, 2022, 2:49 am
#2837
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If they can condition an arriving traveler’s ability to proceed on entry and are doing so on the basis of requiring presentation of documentation, then they are restricting the entry. 
Feb 13, 2022, 3:37 am
#2838
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No, they aren't, they don't have any legal power to prevent you from entering Sweden. If they think you're not allowed to enter, your case is referred to the police which will decide whether you will be admitted or not. That decision is then made under normal Schengen rules, there are no special restrictions anymore. Of course you need to have an accepted ID, that has been the case for last ~100 years.
Feb 13, 2022, 5:41 am
#2839
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If the "non-Police passport checkers can't restrict anyone from anything" were true in Sweden, then who are the "non-Police passport control checkers" checking when and where there is border control at a Swedish port of entry being operated by the "non-Police passport control checkers"? Cross-border volunteers just not willing to ignore those "non-Police passport control checkers" and "make a dash for it" without showing the "non-Police passport control checkers" anything when they are restricting people through the gates as gate-keepers?
Feb 13, 2022, 6:52 am
#2840
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The issue is they referred us to the police without a valid reason, and costing us up to 20 minutes waiting time.
Feb 13, 2022, 6:55 am
#2841
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So for up to 20 minutes, they restricted you from continuing on your way forward until you were cleared by the police referral? But this kind of thing was sort of happening also before the pandemic.
Last edited by GUWonder; Feb 13, 2022 at 7:00 am
Feb 13, 2022, 7:42 am
#2842
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It happened before the pandemic, and during the pandemic. That's why we tried to pick lanes manned by the police.
Feb 13, 2022, 9:18 am
#2843
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One sign of a return to post-2015-pre-pandemic "normality" in Sweden when it comes to border crossing: a boost in Customs staffing and related searches for intra-Schengen international arrivals in Sweden.
Feb 13, 2022, 9:28 am
#2844
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I absolutely understand that and just to be clear, I am very critical of Swedish approach to border crossings. But there aren't any border restrictions anymore, apart from those based on Schengen rules (i.e. needing a national ID card or a passport).
Feb 13, 2022, 9:33 am
#2845
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The land of common sense seems to be thriving while Britain is counting the cost of harsh lockdown restrictions.
To understand Sweden, you need to understand a word that’s hard to explain, let alone translate: lagom. It means, in effect, “perfect-simple”: not too much, not too little. People who are lagom don’t stand out or make a fuss: they blend right in – and this is seen as a virtue.
Essays are written about why lagom sums up a certain Swedish mindset – that it’s bad to stand out, to consider yourself better or be an outlier. That’s why it’s so strange that, during the lockdowns, Sweden became the world’s defiant outlier.
Swedes saw it the other way around. They were keeping calm and carrying on: lockdown was an extreme, draconian, untested experiment. Lock up everyone, keep children out of school, suspend civil liberties, send police after people walking their dogs – and call this “caution”? Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s state epidemiologist, never spoke about a Swedish “experiment”. He said all along he could not recommend a public health intervention that had never been proven.
To understand Sweden, you need to understand a word that’s hard to explain, let alone translate: lagom. It means, in effect, “perfect-simple”: not too much, not too little. People who are lagom don’t stand out or make a fuss: they blend right in – and this is seen as a virtue.
Essays are written about why lagom sums up a certain Swedish mindset – that it’s bad to stand out, to consider yourself better or be an outlier. That’s why it’s so strange that, during the lockdowns, Sweden became the world’s defiant outlier.
Swedes saw it the other way around. They were keeping calm and carrying on: lockdown was an extreme, draconian, untested experiment. Lock up everyone, keep children out of school, suspend civil liberties, send police after people walking their dogs – and call this “caution”? Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s state epidemiologist, never spoke about a Swedish “experiment”. He said all along he could not recommend a public health intervention that had never been proven.
https://apple.news/AxDPKe6dYQCyYL8tKWEgoNA
😛
Feb 13, 2022, 9:51 am
#2846
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I'm looking forward to see what happens with school students' educational attainment scores in Sweden compared to its neighbors (and even compared to itself) over the next several years. Sweden's on a new-found kick to try to defund independent (non-governmental) schools and claims it will boost the funding per student for the municipality schools. Will sprinkling some money like this be able to undo the pandemic period socio-economic damage done to school age kids in Sweden?
Feb 13, 2022, 9:56 am
#2847
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The border crossing by the bridge is not only used for immigration, but also for checking cars (they scan licence plates, wait and ask for driver licences) and illegal substances occasionally.
Feb 13, 2022, 2:06 pm
#2848
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It's not the restrictions that's the problem, it's the way they implementing it is the problem. Those long queues by the bridge is not fun for commuters driving back and forth every day, Mr had to get a Swedish passport just to be able to save the potential 20 minutes unnecessary waiting time so that he could use the time to relax at home.
The border crossing by the bridge is not only used for immigration, but also for checking cars (they scan licence plates, wait and ask for driver licences) and illegal substances occasionally.
The border crossing by the bridge is not only used for immigration, but also for checking cars (they scan licence plates, wait and ask for driver licences) and illegal substances occasionally.
This is one of very few areas where I indeed believe that something is rotten in the state of Sweden. I haven't experienced such insane border checks in my life and I travelled to places like Belarus and Singapore.
Feb 13, 2022, 2:16 pm
#2849
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As for the "tough on border" madness. On the news today was a man, working in Denmark and living in Sweden, with a "non-typical look" who had been searched (body and car) 150 (!) times in 18 month, driving his Tesla across the bridge. Police insisted it was not racial profiling. Yeez.
Feb 13, 2022, 2:23 pm
#2850
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As for the "tough on border" madness. On the news today was a man, working in Denmark and living in Sweden, with a "non-typical look" who had been searched (body and car) 150 (!) times in 18 month, driving his Tesla across the bridge. Police insisted it was not racial profiling. Yeez.
