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News 1.8.2015 17:18 | updated 2.8.2015 9:42 National socialist group riots in Jyväskylä – dozens arrested
About forty representatives of the national socialist Finnish Resistance Movement demonstrated in the central Finnish city of Jyväskylä on Saturday. Although the demonstration started out calmly, brawling broke out as the protest proceeded, leading to thirty people being charged with rioting and assault.
http://img.yle.fi/uutiset/keski-suom...skyl%C3%A4.jpg The extremist Finnish Resistance Movement organisation staged a protest in Jyväskylä, Finland on August 1, 2015 that turned violent. Image: Yle A public demonstration by the Finnish Resistance Movement (Kansallinen Vastarinta), which describes itself as national socialist, ended in fighting on Saturday.
Local police say the extreme right group’s protest began peacefully and that approximately 40 people were in attendance. As the event proceeded, however, the protesters began to assault bystanders and aggressively prevent the police from performing their duty. Some of the aggressors continued their violent behaviour within the premises of the nearby Sokos department store.
The situation was quickly brought under control, say the police, and 30 people were apprehended. Several will be charged with violent rioting and assault.
The Finnish Resistance Movement says it is part of the Nordic Resistance Movement led by the Swedish neo-Nazi Klas Lund. Three of the Finnish group's members were involved in a 2013 scuffle at the Jyväskylä Library, when one person was stabbed.
Finns Party MP Olli Immonen, who recently came under fire for posting an inflammatory Facebook status update calling for a “fight until the end” against the “nightmare called multiculturalism”, posed in June for a photograph with members of the Finnish Resistance Movement in Porvoo. He posted the photo on his Facebook page after the event.
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About forty representatives of the national socialist Finnish Resistance Movement demonstrated in the central Finnish city of Jyväskylä on Saturday. Although the demonstration started out calmly, brawling broke out as the protest proceeded, leading to thirty people being charged with rioting and assault.
http://img.yle.fi/uutiset/keski-suom...skyl%C3%A4.jpg The extremist Finnish Resistance Movement organisation staged a protest in Jyväskylä, Finland on August 1, 2015 that turned violent. Image: Yle A public demonstration by the Finnish Resistance Movement (Kansallinen Vastarinta), which describes itself as national socialist, ended in fighting on Saturday.
Local police say the extreme right group’s protest began peacefully and that approximately 40 people were in attendance. As the event proceeded, however, the protesters began to assault bystanders and aggressively prevent the police from performing their duty. Some of the aggressors continued their violent behaviour within the premises of the nearby Sokos department store.
The situation was quickly brought under control, say the police, and 30 people were apprehended. Several will be charged with violent rioting and assault.
The Finnish Resistance Movement says it is part of the Nordic Resistance Movement led by the Swedish neo-Nazi Klas Lund. Three of the Finnish group's members were involved in a 2013 scuffle at the Jyväskylä Library, when one person was stabbed.
Finns Party MP Olli Immonen, who recently came under fire for posting an inflammatory Facebook status update calling for a “fight until the end” against the “nightmare called multiculturalism”, posed in June for a photograph with members of the Finnish Resistance Movement in Porvoo. He posted the photo on his Facebook page after the event.
SourcesYle Read also
Finns Party MP given "stern words" for posing with Nazi group
18.6. Extreme right radicals seeking more visible presence in Finland
2.2.2013 Suspended sentence for leader of far-right library attack
14.1.
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News 1.8.2015 20:37 | updated 2.8.2015 9:48 Security agency: Finnish Resistance Movement well monitored, has little support
Finland’s intelligence agency in charge of national security says it carefully monitors the extremist Finnish Resistance Movement's activities. They say the organisation is not widely supported in Finland, but maintains close contact with its sister organisations in other Nordic countries, where incidents like Saturday's affray in Jyväskylä are much more common.
http://img.yle.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/ar...rintaliike.jpg Police keep tabs on the August 1 demonstration in Jyväskylä, which ended in violence and 32 arrests. Image: Yle Police in Jyväskylä were well prepared for Saturday afternoon’s Finnish Resistance Movement protest, says Jyri Rantala, Communications Chief for the Finnish Security Intelligence Service, known in Finland as Supo.
Supo had assisted local police to prepare for the demonstration and will continue to be an expert participant in the aftermath of the rioting that occurred.
Rantala says monitoring the activities of extremist groups like the Finnish Resistance Movement is one of Supo’s three main tasks in its efforts to safeguard national security, the other two being counter-intelligence and fighting terrorism.
He says the neo-Nazi party enjoys little support in Finland, with only a few dozen active members. The group normally tends to focus on distributing propaganda: handing out flyers and spreading stickers. Yet the Finnish Resistance Movement works in close cooperation with similar extremist groups in other Nordic countries, including Sweden, where there are many more incidents of similar riots. He says groups such as these promote the concept of white supremacy and a unified Nordic nation.
Eyewitness report
Eyewitness Anssi Koskinen told the Keskisuomalainen paper that he first saw Finnish Resistance Movement members in the church park handing out flyers. One hour later, he was in the Sokos department store when he heard a woman crying for help. Once outside, he saw her trying to protect a man on the ground who was being beaten by Resistance members.
Koskinen says two or three men were beating the man while another took pictures with a SLR camera. Several other Resistance members surrounded them and urged bystanders to stay away. He says he also saw a friend of the man being beaten, who was also bleeding. He described both of the victims as representative of alternative cultures, “hippies or punks”.
32 arrests
Chief Inspector Mikko Porvali has been appointed head of the investigation. He says that the demonstration started out peacefully and was actually wrapping up, when suddenly the participants rushed to the department store. He now thinks this move had been planned.
The police are now investigating why the three people were targeted by the demonstrators. Fortunately, the police arrived at the scene very quickly, using force and pepper spray to allay the offenders.
The members who had started the brawl were arrested on the spot, but the remaining crowd of Resistance demonstrators would not obey the police’s orders to disperse, setting off as a group towards the city centre. The police then apprehended the remainder of the group under suspicion of riotous conduct and conspiracy to riot. A total of 32 people were arrested.
The police were also tipped that the same group had planned a demonstration Saturday evening in the nearby city of Muurame, ten kilometres away. Inspector Porvali suspects that the majority of those who planned to participate in the gathering are now behind bars and therefore he is not expecting further trouble.
Finland’s intelligence agency in charge of national security says it carefully monitors the extremist Finnish Resistance Movement's activities. They say the organisation is not widely supported in Finland, but maintains close contact with its sister organisations in other Nordic countries, where incidents like Saturday's affray in Jyväskylä are much more common.
http://img.yle.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/ar...rintaliike.jpg Police keep tabs on the August 1 demonstration in Jyväskylä, which ended in violence and 32 arrests. Image: Yle Police in Jyväskylä were well prepared for Saturday afternoon’s Finnish Resistance Movement protest, says Jyri Rantala, Communications Chief for the Finnish Security Intelligence Service, known in Finland as Supo.
Supo had assisted local police to prepare for the demonstration and will continue to be an expert participant in the aftermath of the rioting that occurred.
Rantala says monitoring the activities of extremist groups like the Finnish Resistance Movement is one of Supo’s three main tasks in its efforts to safeguard national security, the other two being counter-intelligence and fighting terrorism.
He says the neo-Nazi party enjoys little support in Finland, with only a few dozen active members. The group normally tends to focus on distributing propaganda: handing out flyers and spreading stickers. Yet the Finnish Resistance Movement works in close cooperation with similar extremist groups in other Nordic countries, including Sweden, where there are many more incidents of similar riots. He says groups such as these promote the concept of white supremacy and a unified Nordic nation.
Eyewitness report
Eyewitness Anssi Koskinen told the Keskisuomalainen paper that he first saw Finnish Resistance Movement members in the church park handing out flyers. One hour later, he was in the Sokos department store when he heard a woman crying for help. Once outside, he saw her trying to protect a man on the ground who was being beaten by Resistance members.
Koskinen says two or three men were beating the man while another took pictures with a SLR camera. Several other Resistance members surrounded them and urged bystanders to stay away. He says he also saw a friend of the man being beaten, who was also bleeding. He described both of the victims as representative of alternative cultures, “hippies or punks”.
32 arrests
Chief Inspector Mikko Porvali has been appointed head of the investigation. He says that the demonstration started out peacefully and was actually wrapping up, when suddenly the participants rushed to the department store. He now thinks this move had been planned.
The police are now investigating why the three people were targeted by the demonstrators. Fortunately, the police arrived at the scene very quickly, using force and pepper spray to allay the offenders.
The members who had started the brawl were arrested on the spot, but the remaining crowd of Resistance demonstrators would not obey the police’s orders to disperse, setting off as a group towards the city centre. The police then apprehended the remainder of the group under suspicion of riotous conduct and conspiracy to riot. A total of 32 people were arrested.
The police were also tipped that the same group had planned a demonstration Saturday evening in the nearby city of Muurame, ten kilometres away. Inspector Porvali suspects that the majority of those who planned to participate in the gathering are now behind bars and therefore he is not expecting further trouble.
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Seven Jyväskylä demonstrators still in custody, two Swedes among them
Chief Investigator Mikko Porvali says protective gear and clothing worn by the demonstrators to the Saturday demonstration in Jyväskylä indicate that the far-right extremist group the Finnish Resistance Movement was prepared for violence. The fact that the group had also designated someone to record their activities shows that the assaults were premeditated.
http://img.yle.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/ar...2030474708.jpg The Sokos department store in Jyväskylä was the scene of the assaults. Image: Lehtikuva The white supremacy Finnish Resistance Movement held a demonstration in Central Finland on Saturday that turned violent. 32 people were detained by police that evening, but as of Sunday afternoon only seven were still in custody, after seven others that were held longer for questioning were released.
All 14 of the demonstrators held were under suspicion of participating in a riot or violent rioting. The seven individuals still being held are also suspected of inciting to a violent riot or assault.
Chief Investigator Mikko Porvali says the way the extremist group members were dressed clearly demonstrates that the group arrived well prepared for the chance of violence. There was also someone on hand to take photos of the event and its violent end.
Whether the suspects will remain in custody will be determined as the investigation progresses.
Two of the seven are Swedish citizens, says Porvali, who believes they have connections with the Swedish Resistance Movement. According to the Swedish Security Service, the neo-Nazi Swedish Resistance Movement represents a serious threat to Sweden's internal security.
Police Chief: Systematic attack came as a surprise
While riot police were geared up and ready for the demonstration organised by the extremist Finnish Resistance Movement, the systematic nature of the attack which followed came as a surprise, according to National Police Chief Seppo Kolehmainen. Eyewitnesses said that after the main event began to break up, some members of the group stormed the nearby Sokos department store, singling out three people in a violent attack.
It has since emerged that one of the victims was in fact known to the group - he had been a plaintiff in the 2013 Jyväskylä stabbing case. Kolehmainen conceded that this kind of scenario had not been considered in advance.
“Of course I always think of the worst possible case, but the systematic nature of the incident in Jyväskylä came as somewhat of a surprise. It was as if it had been agreed on in advance how to proceed,” said Kolehmainen.
In Kolehmainen's view, violent protests are not part of a democratic society.
“It’s poor form when the constitutional freedom of assembly is abused,” he said. “Fighting and rioting is concerning because it is directed at the innocent bystanders and police.”
Kolehmainen is satisfied with the the police's reponse on Saturday.
“The situation was contained quickly and the police followed the plan to the letter. We naturally had to use force to quell the offenders, because otherwise we wouldn't have been allowed to break up the assault.”
Politicians weigh in, big names silent
Some politicians commented on the incident in Jyväskylä, but for the time being Finland's President, Prime Minister and pro-European Finance Minister have remained silent.
Without referring to the Jyväskylä violence directly, Timo Soini, Foreign Minister and anti-immigrant Finns Party Chair wrote in his blog Sunday that he is opposed to violence in all its forms.
“I consider all life holy, from the womb to the grave. Violence must always be resisted in every situation, no matter what direction it comes from,” he wrote.
Fellow Finns Party member Olli Immonen, whose incendiary Facebook post opposing multiculturalism last weekend inspired thousands to demonstrate in support of a diverse Finland, also posted a comment on Facebook Sunday:
“Because my political opponents seem to have a strong need to associate me in one way or another with the unfortunate news of violence in Jyväskylä, I would like to make a few things clear. Like I said a few days ago in my Suomen Uutiset interview, I do not condone violence in any way or form.”
“No nationalist sentiment in neo-Nazi rhetoric”
Two politicians responded to the news already on Saturday.
Interior Minister and centre-right National Coalition Party member Petteri Orpo said Finland's security intelligence agency Supo may have the Finnish Resistance Movement firmly on its radar, but that the monitoring of extremist groups must be strengthened in future.
Greens Party Chair Ville Niinistö also spoke out shortly after the news of the riot broke, saying that violent extremism must be fought in Finland. He would like Finnish leaders to start calling incidents like these by their right names, as there is no 'nationalist sentiment' in neo-Nazi rhetoric and troublemaking.
The Greens leader strongly condemned what happened in Jyväskylä and called for the political movements responsible to enforce a clear and unambiguous policy when it comes to violent behaviour, inciting others to violence and neo-Nazi oratory.
Chief Investigator Mikko Porvali says protective gear and clothing worn by the demonstrators to the Saturday demonstration in Jyväskylä indicate that the far-right extremist group the Finnish Resistance Movement was prepared for violence. The fact that the group had also designated someone to record their activities shows that the assaults were premeditated.
http://img.yle.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/ar...2030474708.jpg The Sokos department store in Jyväskylä was the scene of the assaults. Image: Lehtikuva The white supremacy Finnish Resistance Movement held a demonstration in Central Finland on Saturday that turned violent. 32 people were detained by police that evening, but as of Sunday afternoon only seven were still in custody, after seven others that were held longer for questioning were released.
All 14 of the demonstrators held were under suspicion of participating in a riot or violent rioting. The seven individuals still being held are also suspected of inciting to a violent riot or assault.
Chief Investigator Mikko Porvali says the way the extremist group members were dressed clearly demonstrates that the group arrived well prepared for the chance of violence. There was also someone on hand to take photos of the event and its violent end.
Whether the suspects will remain in custody will be determined as the investigation progresses.
Two of the seven are Swedish citizens, says Porvali, who believes they have connections with the Swedish Resistance Movement. According to the Swedish Security Service, the neo-Nazi Swedish Resistance Movement represents a serious threat to Sweden's internal security.
Police Chief: Systematic attack came as a surprise
While riot police were geared up and ready for the demonstration organised by the extremist Finnish Resistance Movement, the systematic nature of the attack which followed came as a surprise, according to National Police Chief Seppo Kolehmainen. Eyewitnesses said that after the main event began to break up, some members of the group stormed the nearby Sokos department store, singling out three people in a violent attack.
It has since emerged that one of the victims was in fact known to the group - he had been a plaintiff in the 2013 Jyväskylä stabbing case. Kolehmainen conceded that this kind of scenario had not been considered in advance.
“Of course I always think of the worst possible case, but the systematic nature of the incident in Jyväskylä came as somewhat of a surprise. It was as if it had been agreed on in advance how to proceed,” said Kolehmainen.
In Kolehmainen's view, violent protests are not part of a democratic society.
“It’s poor form when the constitutional freedom of assembly is abused,” he said. “Fighting and rioting is concerning because it is directed at the innocent bystanders and police.”
Kolehmainen is satisfied with the the police's reponse on Saturday.
“The situation was contained quickly and the police followed the plan to the letter. We naturally had to use force to quell the offenders, because otherwise we wouldn't have been allowed to break up the assault.”
Politicians weigh in, big names silent
Some politicians commented on the incident in Jyväskylä, but for the time being Finland's President, Prime Minister and pro-European Finance Minister have remained silent.
Without referring to the Jyväskylä violence directly, Timo Soini, Foreign Minister and anti-immigrant Finns Party Chair wrote in his blog Sunday that he is opposed to violence in all its forms.
“I consider all life holy, from the womb to the grave. Violence must always be resisted in every situation, no matter what direction it comes from,” he wrote.
Fellow Finns Party member Olli Immonen, whose incendiary Facebook post opposing multiculturalism last weekend inspired thousands to demonstrate in support of a diverse Finland, also posted a comment on Facebook Sunday:
“Because my political opponents seem to have a strong need to associate me in one way or another with the unfortunate news of violence in Jyväskylä, I would like to make a few things clear. Like I said a few days ago in my Suomen Uutiset interview, I do not condone violence in any way or form.”
“No nationalist sentiment in neo-Nazi rhetoric”
Two politicians responded to the news already on Saturday.
Interior Minister and centre-right National Coalition Party member Petteri Orpo said Finland's security intelligence agency Supo may have the Finnish Resistance Movement firmly on its radar, but that the monitoring of extremist groups must be strengthened in future.
Greens Party Chair Ville Niinistö also spoke out shortly after the news of the riot broke, saying that violent extremism must be fought in Finland. He would like Finnish leaders to start calling incidents like these by their right names, as there is no 'nationalist sentiment' in neo-Nazi rhetoric and troublemaking.
The Greens leader strongly condemned what happened in Jyväskylä and called for the political movements responsible to enforce a clear and unambiguous policy when it comes to violent behaviour, inciting others to violence and neo-Nazi oratory.