Several hundred in Helsinki demonstration against Israeli attack on Gaza convoy
Protests go off peacefully, but one arrest made
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An estimated 900 people took part in a demonstration in Helsinki on Tuesday evening to protest Monday's attacks by the Israeli military on a convoy of humanitarian aid ships headed for the Gaza Strip. The demonstrators set off from the Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum and marched to the Israeli Embassy in Yrjönkatu.
Around 250 of them stayed outside the embassy for an hour voicing their protests.
According to police, the protest march went off surprisingly peacefully, given the inflamed feelings that are circulating in the wake of the Israeli action.
At one point during the demonstration, tomato sauce was thrown at the nameplate on the embassy building. Police took one man into custody.
The demonstrators waved Palestinian and Turkish flags.
The flotilla of aid vessels had set out from Turkey, and several Turks are believed to be among those who were killed in the attacks, which have prompted widespread international condemnation and concern.
Many of the demonstrators on Tuesday were Turkish citizens living in Finland.
The protest was arranged by the Finnish Arab Friendship Society (AKYS) and the Palestinian Community of Finland.
The Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre Party) has also deplored the loss of life and expressed shock and incredulity over the incident.
Vanhanen commented that Israel all too often resorted to disproportionate military force. He demanded an immediate explanation from Israel. On Tuesday, the Israeli Ambassador to Helsinki Avi Granot was called to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, where Secretary of State Pertti Torstila informed the ambassador that Finland roundly condemned the use of violence against a civilian convoy sailing in international waters.
Torstila questioned the value to Israel of taking such a tough line and warned that it would only lead to further isolation of their position.
He further urged the lifting of the blockade on Gaza, which Israel regards as a necessary means of preventing weapons being smuggled in that could be used against her.
Following Monday's bloodshed, Egypt for its part reopened its border with Gaza on Tuesday to allow aid to flow through.
One of the more high-profile participants on the aid flotilla was the Swedish detective author Henning Mankell.
Mankell was arrested and subsequently deported from Israel. He returned to Sweden on Tuesday night and has already commented that the commando assailants who boarded the vessels had also shot at people sleeping on the deck.
Thus far there have been two very conflicting versions of what took place in the early hours of Monday morning: Israeli sources claim that the commando units brought in by helicopter only used their weapons in response to attacks from activists armed with sticks and knives, while some eyewitnesses have charged that the Israeli troops opened fire "as soon as their boots touched the deck".
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 2.6.2010 - TODAY |
 Several hundred in Helsinki demonstration against Israeli attack on Gaza convoy |
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