Finland shocked by alleged ‘racist’ stabbings

Foreign-born residents of the northern Finnish city of Oulu said they felt unsafe following two stabbings that police suspect were racially motivated.

The attacks occurred within a week in Oulu’s largest shopping center.

On June 13, a 33-year-old local man – a former member of the banned neo-Nazi group Nordic Resistance Movement – allegedly attacked a 12-year-old boy of foreign origin. He is also accused of attempting to attack a 14-year-old.

The younger child is currently being treated in hospital for serious injuries.

On June 18, a second attack occurred at the same location, in which a man of foreign background was allegedly stabbed by a 15-year-old.

Oulu police said preliminary information suggested the attack was also racially motivated and was a copycat of the first stabbing. The victim was taken to hospital with injuries to his upper body that were not life-threatening, they said in a statement.

The attacks have caused shock throughout Finland and provoked widespread condemnation from politicians.

“There is no place for racism or racist violence in Finland,” President Alexander Stubb said in a post on X. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo described the attacks and their “possibly racist motives” as “abhorrent.”

The opposition Social Democrats have proposed an emergency debate in the Finnish parliament on the issue of right-wing extremist violence.

All parliamentary parties except the far-right Finns Party supported the initiative.

With a population of just over 200,000, Oulu is a technology center 170 km south of the Arctic Circle.

Although the number of registered hate crimes in Finland has increased in recent years, violent attacks are extremely rare.

“These cases are terrible,” Oulu Mayor Ari Alatossava told the BBC. “They happened in a public place and in broad daylight – this is a new situation for us.”

Samina Kazi-Prat, 29, a doctoral student at the University of Oulu, moved to Finland from India in 2018. She says the city’s safety was one of the main reasons she chose to live there.

“I was walking around alone at night, not worrying that anything would happen to me. Then suddenly we have two stabbings downtown,” she said. “Now I think: I have to be careful and be aware of my surroundings.”

Ms Kazi-Prat said she had not personally encountered racism in her daily life in Oulu, but had noticed that racism had become more common on social media over the past two years.

“Hate has become more commonplace and is expressed more openly,” she said.

A young woman who moved to Oulu from the Middle East and wishes to remain anonymous said she has been the target of racist comments on social media and the stabbings have frightened her.

“I have now started paying attention to who is walking behind me on the street,” she said.

“Oulu is not safe now, especially for us foreigners.”

Mayor Alatossava said police presence in the city center had been increased and the city had increased its outreach services for citizens with migrant backgrounds.