At the Me emme vaikene demonstration in Helsinki, a banner was seen that read about the beheadings of Petteri Orpo and Riikka Purra. The organizers say they condemn the banner’s message.
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Helsinki organized in the center on Sunday in an anti-racism demonstration there was a banner on display that said Prime Minister Petteri Orpon (kok) and the Minister of Finance Riikka Purran (ps) for cutting heads.
“If something is cut, Petter and Riika’s head will be cut off,” the banner read. The banner also had drawings of the ministers.
One of the organizers of the We don’t shut up demonstration Sanna Valtonen tells HS that the organizers do not accept the banner’s message. According to Valtonen, the banner had not been noticed in Senate Square before the procession started, so it was probably brought out in the middle of the march.
According to him, the organizers noticed the banner only after the procession ended and there was no time to intervene. According to him, the organizers also do not have the authority to remove signs on their own.
According to Valtonen, the participants of the demonstration had been instructed in advance not to bring political, discriminatory or violent signs.
“On behalf of the organizers, we of course condemn the message of the banner. But even if we hope the banners are in line with our values, we can’t promise that someone won’t come and dig something completely different out of their pocket,” he says.
The citizens’ network Varisverkostok shared a photo of the banner on Instagram.
Helsinki superintendent of police Patrik Karlsson it is not known that criminal reports were made about the banner related to the ministers, at least by Monday afternoon.
He does not take a direct position on whether the text of the banner could be considered, for example, an illegal threat.
In general, however, he states that an illegal threat is a criminal offense. Therefore, Orpo or Purra should demand punishment for the act, so that the matter can be evaluated more closely.
And why didn’t the police intervene on the banner already on the spot?
According to Karlsson, the police always make a broad judgment in demonstrations, for example, depending on what type of demonstration it is and whether it could potentially cause provocation in other groups of people. According to him, the police have also made careful consideration in the demonstration in question.
According to Karlsson, in general, political decision-makers should be able to be criticized at a higher level than private individuals, but the line is always drawn on a case-by-case basis.
“If the general picture of the expression of opinion is calm, perhaps it would be better to refrain from intervening than to intervene ostentatiously. There may be more risks from the police’s point of view,” explains Karlsson.
Sunday according to Sanna Valtonen, the organizers of the demonstration tried to interfere with a few signs or flags that had political symbols.
Valtonen says that, for example, a sickle and a hammer Che Guevara -ticket holders were asked to move to the very end of the demonstration so that other participants did not have to see them. The hammer and sickle are the most famous symbols of communism, while Che Guevara was the commander of the Cuban socialist revolution.
According to Valtonen, the organizers had discussed similar situations with the police as well, so that they could be handled calmly.
In general, according to Valtonen, the weekend demonstration went “in an unimaginably good spirit” and, according to him, there were no disturbances.
Correction on September 5, 2023 at 4:49 p.m.: Sanna Valtonen said earlier in the story that the organizers of the demonstration would have asked to remove the banner that threatened the ministers. However, the banner was only noticed towards the end of the demonstration and, according to Valtonen, there was no time to intervene.
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