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Finnish demonstrators attack refugees with stones, fireworks

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Finnish demonstrators attack refugees with stones, fireworks

Asylum seekers arrive at a refugee reception centre in the northern town of Tornio, Finland.

Helsinki - Meanwhile, a petrol bomb was thrown at another reception centre in Kouvola, also in southern Finland, police said.

Published: Fri 25 Sep 2015, 2:32 PM

Updated: Fri 25 Sep 2015, 4:40 PM

  • By
  • Reuters

Demonstrators threw stones and launched fireworks at a bus full of asylum seekers arriving at a reception centre in Lahti in southern Finland, late on Thursday, Finnish media reported on Friday.
Between 30 and 40 demonstrators, one in a white robe like those worn by the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan in the United States, waved the Finnish flag and shouted abuse at the bus.
Some demonstrators also hurled stones and let off fireworks at the vehicle carrying 40 asylum seekers, including several young children, Finnish television YLE said.
Read: Refugees celebrate Eid Al Adha in Austrian castle
Meanwhile, a petrol bomb was thrown at another reception centre in Kouvola, also in southern Finland, police said. No one was known to be hurt in the incidents.
"The Finnish government strongly condemns last night's racist protests against asylum seekers who had entered the country," the government said in a statement. "Violence or the threat of violence is always to be condemned."

Read: Obama, pope unite for action on migrants, climate
Prime Minister Juha Sipila this month offered to take in refugees at his home, a move that attracted international attention but also criticism in Finland.
So far this year more than 13,000 asylum seekers, most of them from Iraq, have come to Finland, compared to just 3,600 in the whole of last year.
In recent days, about 500 refugees per day have crossed the Finnish land border in Tornio, near the Arctic Circle, after a long journey through Sweden.



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