THIS STORY WAS UPDATED
The Pekka Kataja story, the Perussuomnalaiset (PS) councilor of Jämsänkoski, is constantly changing. First, he claims that “Arab-looking” men assaulted him. That has now morphed into “possibly” it was the far right or far left.
Kataja even claimed that he was attacked due to his opinions of an asylum reception center, which he wanted to be closed.
The problem with the latter theory is that few if any at the asylum reception center has ever heard of him.
“The asylum seekers at the reception center don’t read Finnish papers so they are unaware of people like this man [Kataja], said a Jämsänkoski asylum seeker.
While we should forcefully condemn all types of violence, there is a generous dose of hypocrisy emerging from the Kataja affair. On the same day as Kataja was attacked, the family of Left Alliance Helsinki councilperson Suldaan Said Ahmed was threatened with a bb-rifle.
How many PS politicians condemed what happaned to Ahmed’s family?
Why isn’t anyone showing their repugnance for racism and hate speech perpetrated by parties like the PS?
The accusation by Kataja that the assault could have been carried out by the far-right has angered some members of this group. Miki Sileoni, who is a person with a foreign background, accused Kataja in a tweet of “bullshitting.”
The tweet below states that Kataja does not rule out that the attack was carried out by the far right.
Sari Heinonen tweets: “Interest in this whole story went when [Kataja] mentioned the far right. Source: Tweeter
A lot of other questions arise from Kataja’s claims. Some of these are:
- Did the “Arab-looking” suspects speak Finnish with an accent?
- Kataja has a long track record for his Islamophobic views. In a 2017 Yle election compass, he mentioned as one of his goals was to end “asylum tourism” and that Finland cannot afford to pay billions [of euros] to provide for them;
- ” Didn’t any red lights start to flash when the two “Arab-looking” suspects asked him to show his ID for a package with party flyers?
- Did the suspects speak Finnish with an “Arabic” accent?
- The PS believes that the attack was politically motivated. Why would anyone target a political noncelebrity in a small town in Finland?
The PS commonly ethnically profiles migrants when it comes to a crime. Sometimes, this may backfire as with the tweet below.
My source within Perussuomalaiset has warned that Pekka Kataja’s story shouldn’t be taken at face value unless there is good corroborating evidence. And this was even when he initially claimed that the attackers were Arab looking, before he started to change the claims.
I believe that he was beaten, but by whom and what the motive was, is unclear. He is nationally quite unknown, lives in a quite small town and seems to have reasonable moderate political views, so it doesn’t seem likely that there would be any political motive for the attack, at least on the national level. I suspect that the motive for the attack is personal instead of political.
Tynkkynen didn’t say that they were Middle-Eastern, but that they had beard, which they did. And the men you call white were actually half Gypsies.
Hi PS voter, thank you for you comment. It is all a bit strange but it could well be what you said: the motive could be personal instead of political.
Isn’t “partalapsi” code for asylum seeker posing as a minor?