Finland shocked by alleged “racist” knife attacks

Foreign-born citizens in the northern Finnish town of Oulu said they did not feel safe after two stabbings police suspected were racist motivations.

The attacks took place in Oulu's main shopping center over a week.

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

The youngest child is currently hospitalized with serious injuries.

A second attack took place at the same location on June 18, when a man of foreign origin was allegedly stabbed by a 15-year-old boy.

Oulu police said preliminary information suggested the attack was also racially motivated and a copy of the first stabbing. The victim was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening upper body injuries, a statement added.

The attacks caused shock across Finland and sparked widespread condemnation from politicians.

“There is no place for racism or racist violence in Finland,” President Alexander Stubb said in a message on X. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo called the attacks and their “possibly racist motivations” “disgusting”.

Opposition Social Democrats have proposed that an emergency debate be held in the Finnish Parliament to discuss far-right violence.

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

Oulu, with a population of just over 200,000, is a technology hub located 170 km (100 miles) south of the Arctic Circle.

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

“These cases are terrible,” Oulu Mayor Ari Alatossava told the BBC. “They occurred in a public space 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 walked alone at night without fear of getting hurt. And then all of a sudden we had two stabbings in the city center,” she said. “Now I'm like, I need to be careful and keep an eye on 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 prevalent on social media over the past two years.

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

A young woman who moved to Oulu from the Middle East and wished to remain anonymous said she had been the target of racist comments on social media. The stabbing scared him.

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

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

Mayor Alatossava said the police presence in the city center had been increased and the city had strengthened local services for citizens with immigrant backgrounds.