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Pro-Graffiti Demonstrators Detained by Police

Police detained 27 people on Tuesday when a pro-graffiti movement staged a protest in Helsinki. Police Commissioner Jussi-Pekka Lämsä says that they threw bottles and bags of paint at police officers.

In addition, Lämsä says several police cars were vandalized.

Around 500 people joined the Töhryfest rally at first, but participation petered out to around 100 -150 once the march ended at Hakaniemi Square.

The protest coincided with an anti-graffiti seminar in the city centre. Protestors are angry that city officials are driving a campaign to remove all graffiti, stickers, and posters from the city's landscape.

The rally, which had permission to march and was accompanied by police, blocked traffic on the main thoroughfare Mannerheimintie for around an hour.

Sources: YLE