Police wish to remand two men over May Day Eve riots

Fencing in of storehouses in preparation for demolition will begin today

print this

Police recommend that a 25-year-old man and a 29-year-old man be remanded over the May Day Eve rioting in the yard of the old railway storehouses in the Töölönlahti district of Helsinki. The younger man is suspected of violent resistance against an official as well as of organising the violent rioting. The older man is under suspicion of attempted sabotage.
      The Helsinki District Court will decide on the remand orders for the men today, Thursday.
      One youngster also remains detained over the May Day mêlée. Police will have decided by this morning whether to suggest the juvenile be remanded in custody as well.
     
No additional arrests have been carried out in connection with the events on the May Day Eve. Dozens of people are suspected of misdemeanours of various sorts. The police are aware of the identity of seventeen of them.
      According to Kari Tolvanen, head of the police investigation, police are now concentrating on interrogating those who have been detained.
      "Only then we will follow up on additional leads. Of course we have already obtained quite a bit of information."
      During the course of the May Day Eve mayhem, stones, bottles, and pieces of planks were thrown at members of the police and the fire department.
      Fires had been set both inside and outside the old railway storehouses.
      Tolvanen points out, however, that most of the people gathered at the storehouses to celebrate the First of May did not take part in anything illegal.
     
The fencing in of the Töölönlahti Makasiinit, as the storehouses are known by the locals, will start today. The contractor YIT will commence the demolition of the structures on Monday. The job should be completed by mid-August.
      According to Senate Properties, a government-owned property assets management enterprise who is the current owner of the storehouses, the May Day Eve events had no impact on the time schedule of the demolition work.
     
The storehouses will be disassembled with care. For example doors, windows, roof trusses, and bricks will be set apart for later use.
      Plans have been drawn up by the City of Helsinki to erect two new storehouse pavilions in the area after the completion of the Music Centre, which is to replace the existing storehouses.
      Furthermore, the Helsinki City Museum will preserve samples of typical structural elements of this type of period buildings. Only a 50-metre segment of the southern storehouse will remain intact. During the construction of the Music Centre it will serve as a building site office. Its final destiny will be decided on at a later date.
     
The first phase of the storehouses, designed by the architect Bruno F. Granholm, was completed in 1899. The widening of the north wing was added on in 1908, and the platform roofs were erected in the 1950s. In recent years the buildings have no longer been used by the railways, but have provided premises for artists and other groups. The demolition of this milieu was the subject of heated debate at the time.
      Photographs will be used to document the disassembly of the storehouses.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Police searching for "organised core group" in Sunday night´s melee at storehouses (3.5.2006)
  Riot police battle crowds throwing stones and lighting fires on May DayEve (2.5.2006)
  Four-day party bids farewell to "Makasiinit" (28.3.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat