Police regret for removing Ukrainians´ demo banner in Kuopio

The police on Monday apologised for removing a banner from a demonstration organised by the Ukrainian citizens at Kuopio Market Square on Saturday.

The police also said that the incident took place due to unfortunate misunderstanding as the organiser spoke only Ukrainian resulting their failure to be informed about the content of the banner, according to an official press release.

They also assured to pay attention that certified interpreters are used in similar cases in the future.

The incident took place when a Russian woman during the demonstration reported to the patrol police at the scene that one of the banners contained hate speech.

The police officers tried to resolve the situation by asking the organiser of the demonstration to come to discuss the banner with them.

However, it turned out that the organiser spoke only Ukrainian. The police did not have an interpreter present at the scene, so the Russian woman who had reported the matter interpreted the speech of the police to the organiser.

The police officers wanted to discuss with the organiser whether it was possible to continue the demonstration without the banner in question.

They did not order the banner to be removed, but only inquired whether it could be removed, unless it was necessary for the demonstration.

In the middle of the discussion, the organiser left and removed the banner.