Police officers were punched, kicked, and attacked with glass bottles in Stockholm on Friday night while on patrol in Rinkeby.

Officers on patrol in the migrant-dominated suburb were conducting a routine check on a person when they were attacked by a mob of between 20 and 30 people, according to Stockholm police spokesman Eva Nilsson.

She said: “The fight started when police conducted the check, and all at once a group of people ran out from a place nearby, maybe a restaurant or whatever it was. Exactly how many people were involved is difficult to say, but the officers who were attacked felt that it was between 20 and 30.”

A statement on the police website says that officers were “punched and kicked in an attack by a large group of people”, and reports that the mob “also threw glass bottles at the patrol”. Three officers were sent to hospital for their injuries.

Ms. Nilsson said that while the area is known to have suffered unrest of late, with residents protesting the high crime rate, Friday’s anti-police attack was out of the ordinary.

She told Expressen: “It is absolutely unacceptable that this happened during normal service.

“Of course, it’s a serious thing when police officers who are just acting in their official capacity are attacked in this way. It is a reality which, unfortunately, exists as something which happens now and again for colleagues who work there.”

Expressen reports that three people, all of whom were born in the 1990s, have been arrested in connection with the attack on suspicion of rioting, assaulting police, and violently resisting arrest. Police in western Stockholm are investigating further into the matter.

Though the Swedish Embassy in Hungary denied the existence of ‘no-go areas’ in Sweden, police last year admitted having lost control in 55 areas where they have great difficulty in attempting to enforce the law.

A report released in September revealed the extent of the crisis in police confidence. Due to the dangers police face in the field amidst increasing levels of criminality, 80 per cent of officers are considering a change in career.