Finland's 107th Independence Day got off to the traditional start at 9am with the flag-raising ceremony at Tähtitorni hill in Helsinki.
With a light dusting of snow on the ground under an overcast sky, the flag was raised by the YMCA scout troop from Rastila, eastern Helsinki.
The male voice choir Viipurin Lauluveikot, which was founded in 1897 in Vyborg, sang for the ceremony. Finance Minister Riikka Purra (Finns) made a speech in which she lauded war veterans and expressed support for Ukraine.
President Alexander Stubb then laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki at 10:30.
The annual Independence Day parade took place in Lappeenranta this year, with coverage on Yle channels.
Protests and counter-protests
Far-right activity was more evident this year, with a reading event organised by the far-right Blue-Black movement at Oodi library in Helsinki.
That event ended after a little over an hour of noisy protests by hundreds of antifascists, when participants left the library.
Meanwhile police had cleared Töölöntori for the far-right 612 march to start at 5pm, with the "Helsinki without Nazis" aiming to demonstrate at the same location.
Police said that they had tried to negotiate a different location for the counter-protesters, without success.
By 6:30 there some 20-30 anti-fascists had been detained by police and driven away in a bus, and around 200 attendees were on site ready for the 612 march.
Glitzy ball
The day culminates with a reception at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, which sees around 2,000 honoured guests celebrate Finnish Independence with the first couple, Alexander Stubb and Suzanne Innes-Stubb.
The reception is usually the most-watched television event of the year.
This year Yle is also staging a marathon reading of The Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon Sotilas in Finnish), Väinö Linna's 1954 novel that has become synonymous with Finland's Independence story. You can follow that here (in Finnish).
For an English language look at Linna's masterpiece, check out this episode of the All Points North podcast.
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