17 held at protest against coronavirus restrictions in Helsinki

Several hundreds of people on Sunday gathered in Helsinki city centre, protesting against the restrictive measures taken in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

The law-enforcers arrested 17 demonstrators at the spot, as they did not pay heed to a police order to disperse, said the Helsinki police.

The police said about 300 people gathered at Esplanadi, Aleksanterinkatu, Senate Square, central Rautatientori, and Citizens Square at about 2:00 pm without giving any prior notice, thereby, violating the restriction on gathering of more than six people.

The protesters planned to bring out a procession to Rautatientori via parliament building and violated the rules that limited gatherings in the Helsinki-Uusimaa region to six people.

The police ordered the people to disperse but all of them did not pay heed to the police order, which prompted the law-enforcers to arrest 17 people. Out of them 14 protesters were fined for violating police orders while two others were fined for not obeying the rules.

The police estimated that about 200 to 300 people took part in the rally and procession that ended at about 4:00 pm.

The police said the demonstration was a continuation of the protest that took place on 20 March in Helsinki, where the police suspected 46 people of a rally of violating the rule of restrictive measures against coronavirus.

On 20 March, about 300 people gathered at the Citizens’ Square in Helsinki, protesting against the restrictive measures taken in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Earlier, on 11 April, the police foiled a move to hold a religious gathering at the Läkkitori Square in Leppävaara of Espoo as the participants violated the current restrictive measures aimed at countering the spread of coronavirus.

The police also arrested two people from the spot as they did not pay heed to police instructions in this regard despite repeated requests.

On 14 February, people also staged several demonstrations in downtown Helsinki in protest against the coronavirus restrictions.

About a dozen of the demonstrations were held at the Citizens’ Square and ended peacefully without any untoward incident happening at that time.