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The four Swedish border officers were friendly enough as they checked everyone’s ID, screening for asylum seekers.

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The security officers would not want to exacerbate the tensions linked to their extraordinary presence, which marks the first time since 1954 that restrictions have been placed on free movement between Denmarkand Sweden.

Swedish border officials are now everywhere, including on the Oresund bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden. The famous bridge is close to Malmo, where tens of thousands of refugees are proving a problem.

The Swedish border patrols were put in place this year after politicians realized their social-welfare system could not support the 162,000 asylum seekers, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, who had suddenly crossed into Sweden, often via Denmark.

Photo by JOHAN NILSSON/TT / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Sweden had previously told Syrians that, if they could get to the country, they would be let in. But that ended when Sweden’s deputy prime minister, Åsa Romson, a Green member of the left-wing coalition government, cried as she announced her party’s open-border policy was a failure.