The riot broke out at the Hennala barracks, converted now into a center housing refugees, in Lahti north of Helsinki, late Thursday evening.
National broadcaster Yle showed pictures of attackers waving Finnish flags and camouflaged in white cloth and caps resembling the appearance of the US Ku-Klux Klan.
- There were no serious injuries, but the staff and arrivals were shocked. The bus had carried many families with children. Police said fines would be given to the perpetrators.
Paivi Nerg, the top civil servant at the Ministry of the Interior, expressed concern over tensions between locals and arrivals in Finland. She noted that many housing centers have been established in areas with no significant foreign populations.
Known for its world ski events, Lahti, however, has profiled itself as an international business city and was known at a time as the "Chicago of Finland."
- The Finnish political elites are sending mixed signals and are split on the refugee issue. Member of European Parliament Jussi Halla-aho told media on Thursday that asylum seekers should be put into a camp near the border in basic conditions and be given no government money.
The scene of Thursday's attack at the Hennala barracks carries a notorious legacy from the Finnish civil war of 1918. Hennala now has capacity to house 500 refugees.
Yle political analyst Pirjo Auvinen noted the number of arrivals in Finland is small in comparison with other European countries. She referred to the comment by Prime Minister Juha Sipila some days ago that the refugees are now a bigger problem than the country's economic crisis.
Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
25/9/15
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Finland far-right groups attack refugees...
ReplyDeleteDemonstrators have attacked a bus load of refugees arriving at a reception centre in southern Finland with stones and fireworks.
Between 30 and 40 protesters, one wearing a white robe like those worn by the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan in the US, waved the Finnish flag and shouted abuse at the bus in the southern town of Lahti late on Thursday.
Some demonstrators also hurled stones and let off fireworks at the vehicle carrying 40 refugees, including several young children, Finnish television YLE said.
"The protesters were young people from Lahti... At this point we have no indication that they would be somehow organised," chief inspector Martti Hirvonen told the local Finnish outlet STT, according to the AFP news agency.............aljazeera.com