ELSINKI, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Finnish politicians on Wednesday called for more anti-racism measures to prevent the repeat of recent attacks on two individuals with immigrant backgrounds in the northern city of Oulu.
President Alexander Stubb took to social media to said that there is no room for racism in Finland and that everyone has the right to feel safe. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo described the events in Oulu and their "possibly racist motives" as disgusting.
Antti Lindtman, chairman of the largest opposition party, the Social Democrats, said that zero tolerance was insufficient, stressing that "racist narratives should be abolished, including the use of covert expressions and insinuations."
On Monday, 33-year-old Sebastian Lamsa, a man with far-right sympathies, was remanded in custody, suspected of stabbing and seriously wounding a 12-year-old child of foreign background at the Valkea shopping center last Thursday. On Tuesday, in the same mall, a teenager stabbed a 26-year-old Asian immigrant on his way home from work. The victim had been in Finland for a year. Both victims survived their attacks.
Arto Kaarnaranta, deputy chief of the Oulu police, told a press conference on Wednesday that there are clear indications of racism and hate crime in both cases. The police suggested that the attacker on Tuesday might have been copying the previous week's attack.
At the same press conference, Oulu City Mayor Ari Alatossava called on the government to launch a new, well-resourced anti-racism campaign, both nationally and in Oulu.
Oulu, a city located near the country's border with Sweden, has a population of about 200,000. It is widely recognized as a technology hub, with a significant industrial presence from Nokia.
Commenting on the current situation, professor Tuija Saresma of the University of Eastern Finland told Helsingin Sanomat that attitudes towards racism have become more permissive in recent years. She noted that this change has increased the risk of extreme actions, even though the number of people willing to use violence remains small.
Researcher Tommi Kotonen of Jyvaskyla University remarked on Wednesday that a new generation of right-wing youth is emerging. "There are new networks with less firm internal connections," he told Oulu newspaper Kaleva, adding that racism is not necessarily connected with extreme right-wing ideologies.
The Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) reported last week that it was monitoring around 350 individuals as potential hate crime perpetrators. ■
