Immigrant customer faces racism in Helsinki supermarket

An immigrant customer has recently fallen victim to racism by another native customer at the cash point of an outlet of the grocery chain Prisma at Malmi in Helsinki.

The incident took place at about 1:00 p.m. on November 19, when the immigrant was waiting in the queue behind an elderly woman, eyewitnesses, Prisma employees, and the victim said.

The elderly woman, a native Finn who was aggressive, was seen pushing the goods of the immigrant woman of African background repeatedly when the cashier was calculating prices of her (elderly women) goods.

Although the cashier and the immigrant woman requested the elderly woman to stop pushing the goods, she did not heed the requests.

At certain stage, the elderly woman threw the goods of the immigrant woman down on the floor. Other customers, who were also waiting on the queue protested the incident.

“It is purely racism as the woman created the disturbance without any provocation,” said the victim, adding that the woman’s behaviour frightened her.

“I told the customer twice not to push the goods of another customer, but she did not listen,” the cashier, who was dealing with the payment of the elderly woman, told Daily Finland.

Another employee said that the activities of the customers at the cash point could be easily verified as there are closed-circuit television cameras.

“I was astonished. I have never seen such kind of racism in public in Finland,” said another customer, who was also in the queue behind the victim.

Later, two Prisma security guards rushed to the cash point and took the elderly woman to a corner of the shop and spoke to her.

The security guards, however, released her after a few minutes.

“We spoke to the woman [victim] and she said that she would not lodge any formal complaints. In this case, we have nothing to do,” one of the security guards told Daily Finland.

Another immigrant customer said that not only in Prisma, but he has experienced different kinds of racism in other groceries and public places, especially in the Malmi area.

The HOK-Elanto Communications Department, responsible for the S Group’s services in the capital region, said that they take all forms of discrimination and inappropriate behaviour extremely seriously.

“We have zero tolerance towards racism. We intervene immediately in any situation where the safety or equality of a customer or employee is at risk. We treat every case with the utmost seriousness,” the Communications Department told Daily Finland in reply to an e-mail query.

The HOK-Elanto Communications Department said that they remove disruptive customers from the store and call security or the police if necessary in such cases.

“The store or shopping center can, in certain situations, file a police report on its behalf if the disruptive behaviour meets the criteria of a criminal offense or is directed at HOK-Elanto’s staff,” the Communications Department said, adding that they can also cooperate with authorities as needed to clarify the situation and prevent further disturbance.