Finnish police confirms passer-by dies following violence in Helsinki

Helsinki police confirmed on Sunday that a passer-by died of injuries suffered a week ago outside the Helsinki central railroad station, where the Finnish Resistance Movement was holding a demonstration.

The outsider was said to have made negative remarks to the right wing demonstrators. He was assaulted at the scene and died at the Helsinki Meilahti hospital on Friday.

The police launched an investigation and detained a young man suspected to be the attacker.

The right wing demonstration had not been pre-announced and thus there was no police present. There is no routine police presence in or around railroad stations in Finland.

The event reached publicity only after the father of the 28-year-old victim reported his son's death in social media. It has ignited public debate on political violence in Finland.

The Finnish Resistance Movement made news due to street violence in Jyvaskyla, central Finland, in the summer of 2015 and a stabbing in the same city in 2013 at a presentation of a book critical of right wing extremism.

Finnish Interior Minister Paula Risikko said on Sunday the legality of the organization must be reviewed again. Risikko dismissed claims by the youth organization of the political left that the police takes right wing extremism too lightly. A review was last conducted after the library stabbing in 2013.

Risikko said legislation concerning policing on the internet will be reviewed this autumn.

The national police chief Seppo Kolehmainen indicated on Sunday that formally banning the organization may not be effective. An extremist organization could probably be able to continue its activities despite being banned, he said. Endit