It happened around midnight on Tuesday. A police patrol noticed that the Gottsunda Church in Uppsala was on fire.

The flames were already several meters high. Initially police attempted to stop the fire with a handheld fire extinguisher, but failed.

Because the fire was discovered so early, the church could be saved.

Police write on their website that “the fire could have caused serious damage if police patrol had not discovered it in such an early phase”.

According to Samnytt, the church, which is built out of wood, received significant smoke, fire and water damage.

Police suspect that the fire was started deliberately.

The church is situated in Uppsala in the notorious “problem area” of Gottsunda, which is on the police list of the 22 worst areas in Sweden.

Police label the area as a “particularly vulnerable area”, however some people call these areas for “no-go zones”.

According to police, these areas have parallel societal structures and police have difficulties doing their jobs.

They also say that in these areas the population is often unwilling to participate in court cases, and that there is often “violent religious extremism”.

There is a total of 60 “vulnerable areas” in Sweden, with 22 being labeled as “particularly vulnerable”.

Just last month there was a bombing in the city of Uppsala.

Christian persecution has been on the increase in Europe. Last year saw an alarming 3000 attacks against Christians.

“Roughly 3,000 Christian churches, schools, cemeteries and monuments have been vandalized, looted or defaced in Europe during 2019”

In Sweden there has been 3 bomb attacks within the period of a year against an event building owned by the Syrian Orthodox chuch.

According to Open Doors USA, an organization tracking Christian persecution around the world, more than 260 million Christians face persecution for their faith.