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Cops hail 'brave' woman for stopping robbery
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A young woman has been praised by police for her "bravery and integrity" after she intervened in a Stockholm mugging and forced the thieves to return their loot.
The incident occurred on Saturday night at the Medborgarplatsen subway station in southern Stockholm where two men were picking the pockets of another man who was sleeping at the station.
The woman witnessed the robbery and yelled at the two thieves to return the wallet they had taken.
"They did what they were told and then legged it from the scene," said Viktor Adolphson, duty officer of the Södermalm police, to the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper (SVD).
The woman then called the police, who were quick on the scene. The victim of the
robbery had not noticed anything, but was "glad" to get his wallet back, according to police.
The Södermalm police later posted praise for the woman on their official Facebook page, which has since gone viral.
"This young girl saw a fellow human being exposed to a crime and refused to accept it," they wrote on the official Polisen Södermalm page.
"This is true civil courage! She is a role model for us all!"
At the time of writing, the post has been "liked" over 65,000 times and has sparked thousands of comments from other Facebook users, mostly praising the Good Samaritan's deed.
While police were quick to praise the woman's actions, they also were clear that the post was not intended to be a guidebook for how others should act.
"Personally I think there's a lack of [bravery] in society. But as police we also say that one shouldn't get in a situation where it feels uncomfortable or where it can get dangerous. It can be better to stand back and make a call," Adolphson told the paper.
The initial Facebook post by police stated that the woman was 17-years-old, a figure which was later rectified.
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