Another statue covered with KKK hood | national

Mon, 12 Oct, 2015 12:02:21 AM

FTimes – STT Report, Oct 12

A group of asylum seekers brought` to stay at a former army barracks in the Hennala district in Lahti were Confronted by protesters carrying Finnish flags hurling fireworks and stones on Thursday late evening September 24, 2015. One of them was dressed in the distinctive robes of the white supremacist KKK movement. File Photo – Str / Lehtikuva.

A hood similar to Ku Klux Klan’s was put on top of a statue in Heinola on Saturday night, the police said.

The statue stands near the premises of Opeko settlement association where a reception centre is being opened.

The reception centre can accommodate 100 asylum seekers.

According to the police, bystanders informed the police about the incident. The police rushed to the scene and removed the hood.

A formal complaint regarding the offence has not been made to the police.

Previously in Lahti, the statue of the football star Jari Litmanen was draped in the KKK robe. The matter was reported to the police by the city, but later the complaint was dropped after the perpetrators informed the city’s sport service by their own initiative and agreed to do maintenance and cleaning work for the service.

According to Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, a Finnish language newspaper, the act happened at the General A. F. Airo memorial.

Similar incidents have occurred in the same region three times already. Heinola is situated around 40 kilometres from Lahti.

Finland Times