A group of friends from Eastern Finland started a citizens' initiative that calls on Finland to ban the environmental activist group Elokapina, the Finnish branch of the UK-based organisation Extinction Rebellion.
Elokapina made headlines last Wednesday after some of its members splattered the Parliament House with water-soluble red dye.
That striking act of vandalism, carried out with members of a Swedish environmental group, aimed to end peat harvesting in Sweden by a company majority-owned by the Finnish state.
While the red dye used in the protest was water soluble, the final cost of completely cleaning the building could still be significant, according to the facility's estate manager.
Wednesday's incident caught the attention of Jarkko Laukkanen, from Savonlinna. The next day, he — along with friends from Kuopio and Joensuu — filed a citizens' initiative calling on Finland to ban Elokapina.
Laukkanen said they were motivated by concerns that the vandalism would end up costing taxpayers.
"Even though we live far away in Eastern Finland, these events also touch us. We wondered if [a citizens' initiative] could somehow make a difference. The initiative got off to a good start," he said.
The initiative, which was started on Thursday, 26 September, had already garnered more than 97,000 signatures by Monday evening.
It gained the 50,000 signatures needed to be brought before Parliament within the first day.
Goal: Media attention
According to the law, citizens' initiatives need to include concrete legislative proposals as well as the justifications behind them. The other criteria are mostly technical.
Laukkanen and the initiative's other authors were aware that the document would not result in lawmakers banning the group, as Parliament does not handle such matters.
That's why they included a clause about criminalising the financing of groups engaged in criminal behaviour, according to one of the authors, Paavo Väisänen.
However, it is also unlikely that part of the initiative will be taken up in Parliament, as there is already a similar law on the books.
"The initiative might not lead to further action, but we got a lot of attention about the issue," Laukkanen said.
Elokapina also carried out several demonstrations over the summer, with some incidents involving thousands of participants who blocked traffic in downtown Helsinki.
"Not against Elokapina"
Laukkanen said he hopes the members of Elokapina might take their citizens' initiative effort as an example for their own activities.
"Our statement was perhaps a bit pointed, but no one was hurt. You can also get attention like this," Laukkanen said.
At the same time, Laukkanen said he supported Elokapina's message about saving the environment.
"We are by no means against Elokapina — but rather their way of doing things. They are doing a good job and have good values, but they should send their message in a way that's legal," Laukkanen said.