Lahti EU summit will affect traffic even in the Helsinki area

Security arrangements will mirror those for September ASEM meeting

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The informal EU summit to be held in lahti on Friday will not only disrupt traffic in Lahti but also in the Greater Helsinki area. Other traffic will be restricted between Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport and Lahti when the summit delegations are arriving and departing.
      The motorcades will arrive in Lahti from the airport on Friday morning and during the day. The great majority of the visitors will be heading out again in the evening. The main route taken will be the standard one of the Outer Ring Road (Kehä III) and the Lahti motorway, but it is possible that other routes will also be adopted.
     
Roads will be closed as and where necessary when the delegations are on the move, but traffic will not be interrupted altogether, according to a police spokesman. The disruptions will also affect flyovers crossing the Lahti motorway.
      It will be possible for ordinary people to use these routes, but they will have to be prepared for delays and hold-ups, according to police.
      Traffic at the airport will also be affected, and not just by the possibility of a strike affecting Finnair personnel, which may start on Thursday. The EU summit will not greatly influence scheduled flights, as the majority of the high-level visitors will be coming in and out using private jets.
     
The security arrangements for the one-day meeting in Lahti will involve almost as many resources as were deployed to secure the ASEM summit in Helsinki last month. Matters in Lahti will be watched over by more than 1,000 police, hundreds of conscripts and Defence Staff personnel, and staff from the Border Gurad and Customs.
      Several hundred police officers will also be on readiness in Helsinki in case of delegations staying overnight in the capital.
      By Tuesday, the police had received notification of a total of five planned demonstrations. The number of participants in these is thought to be between a few and a few hundred.
      On Friday evening, for instance, there is to be a silent protest, organised jointly by several groups, on behalf of human rights and freedom of expression in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin will be joining the EU leaders for talks over dinner. Also intending to present their views are the anti-globalisation group Attac, Falun Dafa, and an association urging the return by Russia of ceded areas of the former Finnish Karelia.


Links:
  EU Presidency website

Helsingin Sanomat