As a non-white Finn, it’s amazing how the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, with the support of the National Coalition Party (NCP),* work with tiny numbers and speak in the conditional. In Sweden, there are tens of thousands of people in gangs while in Finland their number total 150-200.
The same strategy goes for the closing of the Finnish-Russian border. We are talking about tens of people seeking asylum, not tens of thousands like those crossing the Mediterranean.
On Sunday, there were around 16 asylum seekers who came to the Vartius border checkpoint, according to Yle. That’s 16, not 160 or 1,600, but 16!
The border crossing points of Niirala, Imatra, Nuijamaa, and Vaalimaa will be closed until 18.2.2024. The Vainikkala border crossing is only for rail traffic. Asylum seekers now have to apply for asylum at the Salla and Vartius border crossings in remote northern Finland. Source: Yle
Just like the youth gang “problem” spread by the PS before the April parliamentary election with the complicity of the police and other parties like the NCP, the situation at the Finnish-Russian border is another storm in a tea cup apparently to prop up the government’s weaning popularity in the polls.
“The reaction of the government to the closure of four checkpoints is overkill and will not only do a lot of economic harm, but it won’t solve the problem,” said Ahti Tolvanen, a member of the Migrant Tales editorial board.
Even if the PS has created a hostile environment for migrants in Finland, it would not be possible without the support of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, who has made racist statements in the past. One of the many that I remember was when Orpo referred to asylum seekers coming from Russia as interior minister (2015-2016) as “a leaking roof.”
Are these asylum seekers trying to enter Finland a leaking roof, Prime Minister Orpo?
