Police action in ASEM demo spark more than 25 complaints

Deputy Parliamentary Ombudsman to launch investigation

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The office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman has received 25 complaints over the behaviour of Finnish police during Saturday evening's "Smash Asem" demonstration in Helsinki.
      The complaints mainly concerned the detention of individuals, keeping people inside the police cordon, and other restrictions on movement.
      Deputy Parliamentary Ombudsman Jukka Lindstedt said on Wednesday that he would implement an extensive investigation into the actions of the police. "The number of complaints is exceptionally big", he said.
      Lindstedt will ask the police for their version of the events, and will go through media reports, as well as photographs taken at the scene. It is not certain if he will interview any of those who were detained.
     
Lindstedt expects more complaints to come. One complaint was also sent to the Chancellor of Justice.
      He said that the division of work between himself and Deputy Chancellor of Justice Jaakko Jonkka will be cleared up in a few days, once the number and content of the complaints comes out.
      Lindstedt is not sure how long the investigation will take. He said that he will try to expedite the process.
      The party executive of the Left Alliance called on Wednesday for a speedy and unbiased investigation into whether or not the police acted in violation civil liberties guaranteed in the constitution. In the party's view, a police operation of the type that took place on Saturday "is not part of Finland in the 21st century".
      Data Protection Ombudsman Reijo Aarnio has also said that he will ask police to provide an explanation of what kind of personal information the police collected of people on the scene, how it was collected, if the information has been stored in a registry of some kind, and how it would be destroyed.
     
During the protest, arranged by a group of anarchists, the police surrounded hundreds of people, limited the movement of a much larger number, and detained 136 people at the Kiasma art museum and nearby areas on Saturday night.
      Interior Minister Kari Rajamäki (SDP) and National Police Commissioner Markku Salminen have insisted that the police succeeded in their action.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Complaints filed on police action during Smash Asem protest (12.9.2006)
  Articles on ASEM in Helsinki, September 2006

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