Helsinki police have banned people from marching on the occasion of the Independence Day with PKK flags, reports Yleisradio Oy.
The security forces justified this decision by fear of provocations that could endanger the safety of the demonstrators. At the same time, according to the Finnish edition Kaleva, PKK flags were not banned at the demonstration in Oulu. Toni Alaranta, Senior Research Fellow at the Finnish Foreign Policy Institute, in a conversation with Yleisradio Oy, emphasizes that they were also present at the demonstrations last summer and no one was interested in them at that time.
It is noteworthy that far-right organizations, whose symbols were not banned, participated in the demonstration in Helsinki this year. So, according to Yleisradio Oy, Nazi signs were seen on members of the fascist group Suomi Herää. One of the women wore swastika stockings, while other marchers displayed the National Socialist black sun symbol and a Celtic cross. The far-right organization "Soldiers of Odin" also participated in the demonstration.
And if in 2018 Nazi symbols were confiscated from the demonstrators, this did not happen this year, because the police “did not notice” it. This was announced by the Chief Commissioner of the Helsinki Police Heikki Porola. He explains the decision to ban the symbols of the PKK as exceptionally possible provocations, but Alaranta believes that this is primarily due to Finland's entry into NATO.
Recall that at the end of June, Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a security agreement that unblocks the process of their accession to the Alliance. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has put forward a condition according to which Sweden and Finland should not support the PKK, YPG and other "terrorist groups" whose members hide in their cities from the Turkish authorities.