Police dismiss accusations of use of excess force during graffiti demonstration

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The Helsinki Police Department have dismissed accusations of use of excess force in connection with Tuesday’s kursiivi>Töhryfest (“Scrawling Fest”) happening.
      Chief Inspector Jussi-Pekka Lämsä, who was in charge of the police operation, feels the force used was in proportion to the nature of the demonstration.
      “The police did not act indiscriminately. The use of force was appropriate”, Lämsä says.
     
According to Lämsä, a Finnish Security Police (SUPO) risk assessment chart was utilised when choosing the approach to the situation.
      “There were no surprises. The amount of vandalism matched our expectations. Our estimates with regard to mild forms of resistance against official authority were also spot on”, Lämsä continues.
      The demonstrators demanded that the City of Helsinki put an end to its Stop töhryille (“Stop the Scrawling”) campaign.
      Of the 500 or so participants on the march, nearly 30 were apprehended. On Wednesday evening two 18-year-old demonstrators remained in custody.
      They are suspected, among other things, of defacing a police vehicle and a tram.
     
Chief Inspector Teuvo Saikkonen from the Helsinki Police Staff says that some of the participants of the demonstration are previously known to the police.
      “There is this group of a couple of dozen anarchists, whose main purpose is merely to cause disturbance in happenings. They travel from one occasion to the next.”
      Not one demonstrator is arrested arbitrarily, Saikkonen says. “Every single apprehension has to be substantiated.”
      A participating demonstrator from the so-called Free Helsinki network argues that the use of force from the police’s part provoked the demonstrators to resort to vandalism.
      “Surely it provokes people when you see riot buses and police officers in full riot gear”, Mikael Brunila says. “But what happened did not help us with the cause. We did not wish for a conflict and did not urge people to cause one.”
      Brunila says he understands the thinking behind the disorderly conduct. “The city’s zero tolerance towards graffiti has embittered certain Helsinki youths. The idea of security guards targeting the youth with violence thrives among us. This is reflected in general suspicion towards the authorities and has in our view caused a spiral of violence.”
      “Furthermore many have been condemned to life in debt, or they have been given quite unreasonable prison sentences.”
     
In 2007 the police conducted 1,200 graffiti-related criminal investigations in the Helsinki area. Around 700 of them were dealt with by a squad specialising in graffiti.
      “This year’s figures look roughly the same”, says head of investigation Insp. Jari Taponen.
      The scrawling squad based in Malmi consists of five investigators and a head of investigation.
      Cases by the same culprit are bundled together.
      A group of a few hundred individuals are primarily responsible for the graffiti in the capital area, accompanied by sporadic defacers.
      Most of the reports of an offence are filed by the City of Helsinki and by Finnish Railways, VR.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Call for impartial evaluation of effectiveness of Helsinki´s “Stop the Scrawling” anti-graffiti campaign (17.9.2008)
  "Stop the Scrawling" campaign fails to invite Youth Department to its ten-year anniversary (16.9.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat