Warm weather favours May Day celebrations in Helsinki

Fun and tragedy marks traditional spring festival

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Celebrations of May Day, which began already on the evening of April 30th, took place in sunny weather. April ended with the warmest conditions so far this year; temperatures rose to more than 20 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country.
      More people were taking part in the revelry on city streets than last year, when relatively cool weather served as a damper to the partying.
      In Helsinki up to 50,000 people turned up on Wednesday for the traditional placing of an oversize student cap on the head of the Havis Amanda statue at Helsinki's Market Square. The annual event was given additional significance by the fact that the sensuous sculpture, of a nude young girl surrounded by fountains, marks its hundredth anniversary this year.
     
The EuroMayDay demonstration organised by young radicals on Wednesday evening involved slightly more trouble than last year's event. Police estimated the turnout at about 200 individuals.
      Some bottles were thrown at police, in spite of pleas by the organisers to behave.
      By midnight, 27 demonstrators were detained after scuffles at Lasipalatsi on Mannerheimintie.
      In previous years the demonstrators have protested poor wages and working conditions, and economic uncertainty. Now the demands extended beyond workplaces to the entire city. Free public transport was one of their demands.
     
On Thursday morning a record number of people were on hand for the traditional celebrations for students and former students in Kaivopuisto Park.
      Thousands wearing white student caps had arrived already at nine in the morning, and by noon the whole area was full of groups of people who had set up picnic stands.
      Police were at a loss to estimate the number of people attending the event. "More than ever before", said one officer watching the event.
     
At least five serious assaults were reported in Helsinki over Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Most involved stabbing, and in one, a 41-year-old man was stuck in the neck with a hypodermic needle by a man who said that he hoped the victim would get an infection. A 26-year-old man was detained, and found to be in possession of a number of bloody needles and syringes.
      Three fatal accidents were reported around the country. A 14-year-old girl died after falling from the balcony of an apartment.
      A young man in Kajaani was killed in a car accident, and in Hamina, a 46-year-old woman was found dead in a private home on Thursday morning. Police are investigating the case as criminal homicide.
     
In traditional May Day speeches by leaders of organised labour, the Confederation of Finnish Industry (EK) was a focus of criticism.
      Lauri Ihalainen, President of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), said in his speech in the community of Toijala that EK should show "moderation and consideration, instead of needless flailing around".
      Antti Rinne, chairman of the Union of Salaried Employees, said that the EK was stuck in the mode of "no-movement" trying to shoot down everything that moves. He said that the EK had miscalculated by opposing a broad-based incomes agreement, as the negotiations with individual unions proved to be quite successful from the point of view of the labour side.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  VAPPU/MAY DAY, MAY DAY (30.4.2008)

Links:
  EUROMAYDAY website

Helsingin Sanomat