Finland Times

National broadcaster Yle estimated that there were about 1,000 protesters taking part.

     The cut in international development spending will affect hundreds of thousands of people's lives in developing countries, said Niina Maki, one of the organizers from the Service Center for Development Cooperation of Finland.

     Some non-governmental organizations in Finland will hand over a petition with more than 41,000 signatures to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development on Tuesday.

     In the middle of August, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in its 2016 budget proposal that Finland is expected to cut international development cooperation spending by approximately 200 million euros (224 million U.S. dollars) in 2016.

     The Finnish government will start to discuss the state budget on Wednesday.