Demonstrations | Expert on the Elokapina video: “It showed that excessive means were used”

Cognoscenti assess that the shoving recorded in the Elokapina protest video seems like excessive use of force by the police.

“Based on the video, it looks bad,” says the emeritus professor of criminal law Matti Tolvanen from the University of Eastern Finland.

Also professor of criminal law at the University of Helsinki Sakari Melander after watching the video, is of the opinion that more harm has been caused than was necessary.

“Especially one push-type situation seems problematic in terms of the principle of proportionality and the principle of least harm. Based on that video, it seemed to me that excessive means were used.”

The situation assessed by Tolvanen and Melander is shown in the video published by Elokapina at around 17:45. In this situation, the protesters are prevented from walking onto the roadway of Kaisaniemenkatu. The police push one protester to the ground.

The video was filmed on June 11 from Elokapina’s Muskywaroitus demonstration, which demands an end to subsidies that are harmful to the environment.

Police announced on Saturday that it would investigate the events of the demonstration and assess the proportionality of the police’s actions. The police also have their own video footage of the demonstration.

According to the experts, it is good for the police to investigate their own activities.

“If you follow the police’s hands, it looks exactly like a push and not just a fight. Raising your hands would probably have been enough to fight back. It is obvious that the police will hit a person in such a way that he falls down,” states Tolvanen.

According to Melander, as a more reasonable method than pushing, the police could have positioned themselves in front of the demonstrators to block their access to the roadway.

“And if people still go to the street, they would be carried away calmly, as was done in the video earlier.”

Before the shoving, the actions of the police appear in the video to Melander’s eyes “mostly very appropriate”.

Tolvanen estimates that if it is decided to open a preliminary investigation into the case, the topics of investigation would probably be willful or negligent breach of official duty and assault.

“Based on the video, it seems that the police are pushing a person. Of course, the police’s powers of use of force do not extend to such. Then, of course, that kind of action would be possible if someone had their fists up, but you can’t interpret the video like that.”

Tolvanen reminds that the symptoms of abuse can be met simply by falling, even if the person who fell was not injured. The protester who fell on the video said on Saturday To Ylethat he wasn’t hurt more than a couple of bruises.

According to Sakari Melander, an assault conviction would be a rarer outcome than breach of duty. For example, in the Elokapina demonstration four years ago, the use of gas spray by the police did not lead to convictions for assault. However, one police officer was convicted of breach of duty.

Both the experts emphasize that they assess the situation only on the basis of the Elokapina video. Tolvanen states that balancing between the performance of official duties and the limits of the use of force can be difficult for police officers in a fast-moving situation.

A more detailed explanation of the situation is, however, in the opinion of both.

“It is part of the operation of a democratic society that the actions of the police are investigated regardless of one’s opinion of the demonstration,” sums up Tolvanen.