Police searching for "organised core group" in Sunday night’s melee at storehouses

Demolition of buildings to begin on Monday

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Police in Helsinki are looking for a core group of organisers of Sunday night’s disturbance at the condemned railway storehouses.
      A maximum of 200 to 300 people gathered at the storehouses on Sunday night. Most of them were celebrating May Day Eve and had nothing to do with the fighting.
      Kari Tolvanen, the head of the police investigation, says that violence against police and firefighters did not take place at whim.
      Police say that there are indications that the action was premeditated; stones thrown at police and firefighters had been gathered into piles, and about ten unused petrol bombs were found in the area.
      Police could not say on Tuesday if the plan was hatched the same evening, or earlier.
     
Tolvanen said that those taking part in the violence had quite divergent goals. "One group tried to occupy the storehouses to prevent their demolition, the other to burn them down, and the third, to fight officials."
      Dozens were involved in throwing bottles, stones, and pieces of wood at the police and firefighters. Most of them are still at large.
      Police detained 17 people. Five of them were still under arrest on Tuesday evening. "We suspect that some of those who were detained set fires, and that others threw stones at police. In addition, we have reason to suspect that some were involved in inciting others."
     
Hannu Moilanen, deputy head of the Security Police (SUPO) says that the intelligence gathering activities of the police had failed, and that the situation that emerged was "considerably more unfortunate" than had been expected. He says that the whole police organisation bears responsibility for this.
      "The Security Police has also learned a lesson from this", Moilanen says, but does not say whether or not this means that certain activist groups will be monitored more closely than before.
     
Interior Minister Kari Rajamäki (SDP) says that intelligence work will be upgraded, and cooperation among officials in different branches would be increased.
      "The event will be investigated thoroughly. The necessary conclusions will be drawn, with respect to the security arrangements of the EU Presidency, for instance", he says.
      Some of those who were detained have conceded that they threw stones at the police. They have not given any motive for their actions.
     
The gathering at the storehouses was preceded by a demonstration in the centre of the city calling for the establishment of a guaranteed basic income in Finland. Some of the protesters gathered at the storehouses to spend the evening. They were joined by other young people.
      At about 11:00 in the evening the crowd prevented firefighters from putting out a bonfire using debris in the area as fuel. The fire was allowed to burn until four in the morning, when it nearly spread to the structures of the buildings themselves.
      After this the police and the rescue department cleared the area and put out the fire. About ten police officers sustained some injuries in scuffles.
     
Some of those arrested face charges of aggravated attempted vandalism. Tolvanen notes that many people were endangered when someone threw a gas canister into the flames, and when a fire was lit inside one of the buildings.
      On the following day, when Helsinki was celebrating the First of May holiday, police in Helsinki were prepared for new clashes, because "the same types of people with banners" were moving around the city. More than ten police officers guarded the storehouses in the evening, with riot gear ready in case something happened.
      "Nothing significant happened, however", said deputy police chief Jari Liukku.
      Liukku says that the storehouses are not now under special surveillance. The demolition of the buildings is to begin on Monday next week.

More on this subject:
 COMMENT: "I didn’t know I was taking part in a riot"

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Riot police battle crowds throwing stones and lighting fires on May Day Eve (2.5.2006)

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