Finnish far-right extremist suspected of stabbing child: police

The 33-year-old suspect stabbed a 12-year-old boy several times in a shopping center in the northern Finnish city of Oulu on Thursday, authorities said.

The NBI said the suspect attempted to attack another child accompanying the victim.

The 12-year-old was seriously injured but was in stable condition Friday, the NBI said.

The attacker, now suspected of two attempted murders, “has a history of far-right activities,” the NBI said.

According to NBI Detective Ari Soronen, a mall guard “managed to stop the suspect before he caused any more harm.”

Public broadcaster YLE reported that the suspect was a former key member of the Nordic Resistance Movement, a neo-Nazi group banned in Finland since 2020.

The suspect was convicted of stabbing a person during a far-right event at a library in 2013.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo strongly condemned the stabbing attack, calling it a “cowardly attack on children” on the social media platform X.

“Far-right violence poses a real threat in Finland. There is no place in this country for extremism in any form,” he said.

Before police revealed the suspect's far-right background, the leader of Finland's right-wing populist party, Finance Minister Riikka Purra, linked the attack to gang violence.

“In the middle of the day, in the middle of a shopping center, a child stabbed… With gang crime, gangs, etc., we are unfortunately following the same trend as in other countries,” she said. wrote on X. Thursday, provoking a storm of criticism against his statement.

ank/po/jm