Finland Times

 

Huge procession brought out in Helsinki on Saturday protesting austerity measures taken by the government. Photo – Lehtikuva.

Several thousand people demonstrated on Saturday in Helsinki protesting against the government’s ongoing austerity measures.

 

The police detained nine protesters from a huge rally where about 5,000 people gathered from different parts of the country, police and eye witnesses said.

 

The police said a few dozen protesters blocked the traffic on Siltasaarenkatu and some of them displayed anarchist symbols.

 

The stewards tried to disperse the crowd but failed, prompting police intervention.

 

Earlier, one protester smashed the window of a Nordea bank branch located on Aleksanterinkatu.

 

Photo – Lehtikuva.

Organisations that announced their support for the demonstration included the Finnish branch of the UN children fund UNICEF, local chapters of many trade unions, and the Helsinki University student union, reported the news agency Xinhua quoting the Finnish language newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.  

 

The organisers of the event said the idea is to bring to Finland the activism against tough fiscal policies. “The Finns are just awakening to this European trend,” one of the arrangers, Suvi Auvinen, told the Helsingin Sanomat.

 

The demonstration got verbal support from several academic experts. University of Helsinki Social Policy Professor Heikki Hiilamo told the Helsingin Sanomat that large demonstrations indicate the fact that the people cannot find channels for their frustration.

 

Political signs were prohibited. In the march left wing activists were seen, but organisers said the event represented a wide array of political backgrounds. They said those detained had not followed instructions of the organisers.

 

Dressed in a UNICEF shirt, Helsinki resident Sami Frestadius who volunteers for the organisation was in the crowd protesting cuts to education both home and abroad.

 

“The budget needs to be rectified and certainly something needs to be cut, but children issues and education are those things which should not have been cut,” said Irmeli Saarijärvi, a resident of Tampere, who also pointed out issues affecting the elderly and the disabled. 

 

For example, drug cost savings hit low-income pensioners, Saarijärvi said.

 

Photo – Lehtikuva.

According to Saarijärvi, the elderly, the disabled, pensioners and people on low income have fallen victim to the government policy.

 

“It is terribly wrong that we the poor are always punished,” Saarijärvi added.

 

Despite the isolated incidents, the demonstration was peaceful, said the police.

 

Mass demonstrations against domestic policies have been rare in Finland. There have been marches to support a cause such as the Pride demonstrations for equality, but wide expressions of civic anger triggered by domestic issues have not been seen since the general strike in 1956.

 

In the 1980s tens of thousands marched against U.S. plans to place intermediate range missiles in Europe, but the issue did not involve Finland directly.