Students | Students opposing the government's cuts occupied a building in Meilahti

Students against surgeries! – movement tells on Instagram on Saturday that he had taken over the Meilahti manor located on Tamminiementie.

“Today, April 20, we students have taken over an entire mansion Orphan and Stubby from neighboring Meilahti. We declare the building a free dormitory and living room,” the business writes on Instagram.

In an update published on Friday, the movement announced that it will not remain inactive in the face of the government's brutal cuts.

In a press release, the students' movement says that it took over the building because cuts in housing allowance combined with rising prices “cause very big problems for a wide range of people, not just students”.

Present who is HS's photographer Ella Kiviniemi told around five on Saturday afternoon that there are 30-40 participants in the event.

“The atmosphere is really calm. Now, when the media started to arrive, the atmosphere got a little tighter,” Kiviniemi said.

According to Kiviniemi's information, the police have not visited the place.

“The police reportedly drove past this earlier in the day, but they did not intervene in the situation. According to the organizers, the takeover of the building has been notified to the city today.”

Helsinki the city owns three buildings located at Tamminiementie 6 and 8: the manor's wooden main building, the stone-built so-called dance pavilion, and the stone building of the former Helsinki Art Museum.

Students against surgeries! says that he took over the building located at Tamminiementie 6.

Another group announces that they have taken over the vacant cafe of the neighboring Meilahti manor located at Tamminiementie 8. The group publishes content on Instagram with an account called Kaaoskartano.

“Government's cuts will take us away from us, so we will take over a real mansion by the sea with our own permission,” was written in the account's first update, published at the beginning of the week.

of HS Kiviniemi said that the Kaaoskartano group has been there since Monday. According to Kiviniemi's estimate, there were about 15 people in the premises on Saturday, some of whom were the same as in the building occupied by the students.

“Here, too, the atmosphere is calm. There are no organized activities at the moment, but people spend time in the haunted house,” Kiviniemi said.

The people interviewed by Kiviniemi said that the event does not have one, specific organizer.

The house was occupied when several people announced that they wanted a common, autonomous cultural space for their use, because there are not enough of those in Helsinki. In addition, the squatters told Kiviniemi that they oppose the policy that prevailed during the past winter more broadly, not just the government cuts announced now.

Was empty the cafe was also taken over in April last year. At that time, the space was taken over by an anarchist group calling itself the Squat Makamik collective.