Finnish churches ring bells to mourn victims in war-ravaged Syria

Dozens of Evangelical Lutheran churches across Finland started to ring bells on Thursday to pay tribute to the victims dead in war-torn Syria, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported.

The initiative, which encouraged the Finnish churches to participate in the daily bell ringing, was raised by the Evangelical Lutheran Kallio Church in Helsinki.

So far, more than 70 churches in different parts of the country have joined the Memorial, said Yle.

The commemoration will last 12 days from Thursday until United Nations Day on Oct. 24.

Teemu Laajasalo, priest of the Kallio Church, told Yle that the reason for the unified ringing is to grieve for the victims in Syria and draw attention to the situation there.

According to the United Nations, at least 250,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in March 2011. A Syrian medium called I Am Syria said that 1,559 people including 1,161 innocent civilians were killed in a single month in September 2016.

It is quite seldom in Finland that churches ring their bells in such a coordinated way. The last time was in 1986 marking the funeral of Urho Kekkonen, Finland's longest-serving president, who had served for 26 years from 1956 to 1982, said Laajasalo. Endit