Finland: revolutionaries face harassment from reactionaries and the State in Tampere
Featured: Demonstration in Tampere with flags from the revolutionary contingent. Source: Punalippu.
On Saturday 9th of September there was a new mobilization in Tampere, Finland, against the reactionary government of the State. The revolutionaries faced harassment from the reactionaries and the Finnish State. This also happened previously in the anti-racist demonstration held on 3rd of September in Helsinki. In this demonstration some organizers and the police harassed the revolutionary contingent, trying – unsuccessfully – to isolate it and to expel them of the demonstration. We previously reported on this.
After the mobilizations of 3rd of September, there was a new weekend of mobilizations in Finland. On Saturday 9th of September there were mobilizations in several towns and cities: Tampere, Lappeenranta, Kotka and Kouvola. This is the second mobilization in the past months in Tampere against the reactionary government of Finland. The first one was on 6th of July of 2023, and gathered 600 people. In both demonstrations the revolutionary contingent got the support from the people. In this occasion, the demonstration in Tampere gathered more than 1.300 people, who demanded the resignation of the reactionary government lead by Petteri Orpo.
Punalippu explains how a counter-revolutionary and his partner arrived and harassed the revolutionaries, shouting to them and trying to make them leave the place. All their efforts failed. Some organizers tried to curb with the reactionary couple, but then the counter-revolutionaries tried to steal the red flag from the revolutionaries, but failing in his attempt. Finally, the counter-revolutionaries understood their failure and then called the police. Under the threats of violence and arrest, the repressive forces expelled the revolutionaries from the demonstration, who continued shouting their slogans near by.
Despite the attacks suffered, Punalippu explains that “Throughout the anti-communist attack, the revolutionaries responded by holding up flags and shouting “down with the laws of Lapua”. Lapua refers to the fascist organization of the decades of 20s and 30s in Finland. Besides this, the isolation tried by reactionaries and police, had no effect, because the communists received support from masses: “In the isolation imposed by the police, the revolutionaries were not isolated after all, but received one after the other demonstrations of support and received handshakes of friendship from both those who participated in the demonstration and those who happened to be there. (…) The rampage of anti-communism brought out divisions in the ranks; some left, some joined the cries of “down with the laws of Lapua”, some came afterwards to show their solidarity with the revolutionaries, and some even wanted to join the red movement against the government.”
Punalippu highlights that an offensive against revolutionaries is being carried out in Finland and explain this as follows: “It is worth noting that there have now been two cases within a short period of time (3.9. in Helsinki) where the police have been used specifically against revolutionaries in anti-government demonstrations.”
