Finland Times

President Sauli Niinistö and First Lady Jenni Haukio at the Independence Day reception party on Tuesday. Photo

The 99th Independence Day was observed across the country on Tuesday with festivity and joy and almost peacefully as there were a few sporadic demonstrations.

 

The main celebration took place at the presidential palace in the traditional way where President Sauli Niinistö and First Lady Jenni Haukio accorded reception to hundreds of guests including senior citizens, professionals, cultural activists, diplomats and people from different strata.  

 

About 2000 guests were invited to the celebrations which also commemorated Finnish cultural markers for many years.

 

Lehtikuva.

Meanwhile, different groups including extremist far-right 612, the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement and anti-extremists held separate demonstrations in the evening during the celebration.

 

Police also picked up seven people from demonstrations but no major unwanted incident took place as the law enforcers took tight security measures.

 

“The demonstrations were almost peaceful and no major incident took place,” the Helsinki Police Department Communications Director Juha Hakola told news agency STT.