Liz escaped unharmed but a Channel Nine cameraman and producer were assaulted while filming and interviewing immigrants in the city’s Rinkeby Square.
In the Rinkeby district of Stockholm nearly 90 per cent of residents come from an immigrant background.
Jan Sjunnesson, who works for local news website Avpixlat, which partnered with Nine on the story, says the crew ran into the trouble before reaching Rinkeby when a man approached asking why they wanted to film there. He then deliberately drove over the cameraman’s foot.
The 60 Minutes team reportedly had six police officers for protection but
when they left without warning things took a turn for the worse.
A group of masked men allegedly circled the TV crew, with two crew members suffering blows. A bottle was also thrown at a camera, according to the report.
One cameraman “was beaten right across the chin so that a tooth [came] loose,” says Jan.
Jan adds that the 60 Minutes team compared Rinkeby to a war zone: “They told me that they were in Somalia, Syria and Iraq, but nothing like that has just happened to them, they had never experienced [this] anywhere else.”
Channel Nine confirmed its 60 Minutes team ran into trouble in Stockholm but provided scant details.
“Liz Hayes and a 60 Minutes crew are currently on assignment in Europe where they are reporting a story about the migrant crisis,” the statement reads.
“In a suburb of Stockholm yesterday they were confronted by a group who objected to them filming.
“There was a series of scuffles and the police were called. The 60 Minutes’ cameraman and producer were slightly injured but filming continued with police at the scene.”
The Nine Network says that the crew had returned to their hotel and are all fine. Filming on the story continues with the story expected to air in the next few weeks.