How is it possible that we do not hear a word from the government about three suspects tried on terrorism charges in Lahti. Helsingin Sanomat published an editorial Tuesday about the threat of far-right violence in Finland.
Writes Helsingin Sanomat: “However, the case is a fresh reminder that the extreme right is a real threat to Finland’s security. The assessment made by the Finnish Security Police (SUPO) a couple of years ago is correct; in addition to the terrorist threat from radical Islamists, the terrorist threat from the far right has increased.”
As if trying to divert attention from far-right terrorism, Interior Minister Mari Rantanen has preferred to talk about migrant youth gang violence and new questionable methods to give the police more search- and-seizure powers.
For many years, groups like Migrant Tales, historian Oula Silvenoinen, and columnist Saku Timonen have warned about the ties of the radical-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party and far-right groups. Is it a surprise that one of the main suspects in the terrorist trial in Lahti is a former PS member Viljam Nyman?
Read the full story (in Finnish) here.
Finnish prosecutors have charged four men in the Lahti terrorism trial that are believed to be able to produce semiautomatic weapons using a 3D printer and attacking critical infrastructure, politicians, anti-racism activists and NGOs. One of the targets was believed to be former prime minister, Sanna Marin.
Finnish news server YLE reported that the four suspects follow neo-Nazi ideology linked to accelerationism, which claims that fundamental societal transformations can be achieved only by accelerating different processes in society.
“Because of their racist convictions,” said prosecutor Jukka Rappe, “the suspects are being charged with preparing an armed conflict among groups in the population during which the killing of people and the undermining of social structures would take place using homemade firearms.”
The big question
One of the questions that arises from the case is if the police and SUPO have been too slow to react to the threat of far-right violence and neo-Nazi ideology in the wae of the over 30,000 asylum seekers that came to Finland in 2015.
Remember the unclear stands of the police and some politicians concerning vigilante gangs like the Soldiers of Odin?
Migrant Tales publishes in 2015 below a number of arson attacks that could have been classified as acts of terrorism carried out by far-right groups.
(Migrant Tales 14.12.2015): How long will reception centers and asylum seekers be under attack in Finland?
The fact that fourteen asylum reception centers have been attacked in Finland since mid-September is scandalous. According to the police service of Kangasala, an asylum seeker was beaten by two or three men Saturday evening near the Kaivanto reception center, reports YLE News.
And the news doesn’t stop here: Neo-Nazi vigilante patrols, one Perussuomalaiset (PS)* substitute MP from Kankaanpää, Juha Maenpää, stated in December that god had answered his prayers after a reception center that was supposed to house asylum seekers was razed to the ground. If an asylum seeker commits a crime there is a social media lynch mob ready 24/7.
If it is a Finn that rapes a woman the public, politicians and the media don’t appear too interested.
Double-standards and xenophobia are rife in Finland today.
In the ever-worsening anti-immigration atmosphere, some politicians and the government are even showing some understanding to the hostility against asylum seekers, which has spread and affected all migrants and minorities living in this country. Interior Minister Petteri Orpo blamed asylum seekers on YLEfor these attacks by stating that is would calm matters down by tightening immigration policy even more.
You may be asking why the National Coalition Party and Center Party aren’t even raising a finger against the PS’ obsession against immigrants and asylum seekers. These two parties need the support of the PS to streamline the welfare state. In return, the PS can tighten immigration policy and thereby appease their racist voters.
Like in all the attacks against the reception centers this fall and early winter, only one suspect was caught in Kouvola (24.9.2015), a middle-aged man was charged and given a one-year prison sentence.
How big will this disgraceful list grow below?
Attacks against asylum reception centers in Finland
December
Turku (25.12.2015): Unsuccessful arson attack.
Asikkala (12.12.2015): Unsuccessful arson attack.
Tampere (10.12.2015): Possible arson attack still under investigation.
Pori (6.12.2015): Windows of the reception center were broken.
Rauma (4.12.2015): Successful arson attack of a building that was supposed to house asylum seekers.
A building that was supposed to house asylum seekers in the western Finnish city of Rauma. Source: Helsingin Sanomat.
Kankaanpää (1.12.2015): Successful arson attack of a building that was supposed to house asylum seekers. PS substitute MP Maenpää stated that god had answered his prayers.
November
Imatra (22.11.2015): A smoke bomb was thrown at this asylum reception center. Nobody was injured.
Oulu (21.11.2015): Unsuccessful arson attack.
Lahti (15.11.2015): Windows of the reception center were broken with bricks.
October
Ylivieska (31.10.2015): Unsuccessful arson attack against a reception center that housed 14 16-17-year-old adolescent boys.
Siilinjärvi (19.10.2015): Two smoke grenades were thrown at the door of the asylum reception center.
Hämeenlinna/Lammi (7.10.2015): Unsuccessful arson attack.
September
Lahti (25.9.2015): Fire crackers were thrown at a bus transporting asylum seekers to a reception center. The picture of a Finnish man dressed as a Ku Klux Klan knight appears in the global media.
Read full story here.
Kouvola (24.9.2015): Unsuccessful arson attack.
Petäjävesi (20.9.2015): Unsuccessful arson attack.
Kitee (12.9.2015): Windows of a folk high school building that housed asylum seekers were broken.
A Nazi flag was hoisted in August at an asylum reception center in the northern Finnish city of Tornio.
