News

Helsinki tightens rules on events after far-right reading circle incident

The move was prompted by an incident at Helsinki's main library on Monday, when members of a far-right group gathered for what it described as a reading circle.

Police officers at Helsinki's public library Oodi, with people and bookshelves in the background.
Helsinki police officers at Oodi library on Monday, eventually clearing the facility of counter-protesters as well as the far-right group. Image: Jorma Vihtonen / Yle
Yle News,
STT

The City of Helsinki has tightened rules regarding public events on city-owned property, the capital's Culture and Leisure unit chief, Juha Ahonen told news agency STT on Tuesday.

The move was prompted by an incident at Helsinki's main library Oodi on Monday, when members of the far-right Blue-Black Movement gathered for what the group described as a reading circle, Ahonen explained.

The gathering also drew around 250 people who were opposed to the event. Several scuffles broke out as tensions between the groups escalated. Police cleared the facility of the counter-protesters as well as the far-right group.

According to Ahonen, rules about gatherings on City property are being tightened.

"We consider reading circles with open invitations to be public events. This means the organiser will need to get permission from the city to use the premises. It also means that organisers must have an individual who is in charge of the event," Ahonen told Svenska Yle.

The City already has rules in place regarding gatherings, but the far-right group did not book a space at the library for the event in advance.

According to the City's principles, venues cannot be booked to stage events which would be in breach of the UN's International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Additionally, city spaces cannot be reserved by clients who engage in, or plan, criminal or violent activity.

However, Ahonen also told Svenska Yle that it is not possible to check the backgrounds of people who reserve rooms at the library, for example.

"It's difficult to make a comprehensive rule. But we must intervene if, for example, we know that an extremist group is violating principles of equality or the Equality Act and uses language that can be perceived as racist," he said.

Members of the Blue-Black Movement have also recently staged reading circles at other locations.