Eyewitnesses in Helsinki told rescue services about seeing a possible smoke cartridge being thrown towards the Turkish Embassy on Wednesday afternoon, according to police.
The Helsinki police department issued the announcement on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. The embassy is located in the city's Ullanlinna district and the incident was first reported at around 4:30pm.
"There was a report about smoke inside the building. At the moment, it seems the smoke was caused by something thrown from outside, towards the building," the post stated.
Based on eyewitness observations, police said the smoke may have come from a smoke cartridge. Police also said the thrown object was not an explosive and that there was no fire.
The incident is initially being investigated as a damage to property offence, according to police.
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (NCP) issued a statement about the incident on the social media site X at around 7pm on Wednesday.
"I am saddened about today's vandalism of the Turkish Embassy. Hostile acts against diplomatic missions are reprehensible. The police are investigating; I believe that we will soon receive more information about what happened," Valtonen's post read.
Eyewitnesses told police about a group of four people who were walking near the embassy at the time of the incident and then left the area.
Police said they suspect that the group may have been involved in the incident, adding that they had not yet located them as of around 6pm on Wednesday.
Edited to add details about Minister Valtonen's X post and an additional photo.
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