The organisers of the Lutheran Evangelical Church’s biennial jamboree say that a group of people representing the right-wing nationalist group the Finnish Resistance Movement (Suomen Vastarintaliike) gatecrashed the summer festival and began to distribute anti-Semitic material from the freesheet Magneettimedia.

“They entered a cordoned off area and the material appeared from somewhere, we didn’t see where. They knew what to do and had done it before,” said Jari Kupiainen, development manager for the Kirkkopäivät jamboree.

According to reports there were about two dozen activists present at the occasion over the weekend, and were detected only when they began to distribute the material. A fracas followed when security personnel attempted to intervene in the interlopers’ actions.

“They managed to share out some of the literature. The provocation began when a security guard asked them to leave. They verbally and physically resisted the officers,” Kupiainen explained.

At this stage the police were summoned to the scene. While they were awaiting the arrival of the police one of the men took a swing at a security guard, following which he was held. The scene did not escalate into further violence however.

Criminal report on incident

Police say that the security officers are in the process of filing a criminal complaint on the matter. They also say that this is not the first they’ve seen of the Resistance members.

“We’ve seen the same individuals in a YouTube video as those involved in a Jyväskylä library stabbing in 2013,” said Superintendent Jukka Lankinen of the southeast Finland police precinct in Kouvola.

Earlier this year a court sentenced four men involved in a stabbing incident in a Jyväskylä library during a discussion event for the launch of a book on Finland’s far-right. One of the men stabbed a security guard working at the event.

The security guard who was assaulted meanwhile was forced to seek medical help.

“I have said that if someone sustains an injury from someone they should see a doctor, the matter should be investigated from the perspective of legal protection. The decision to file a criminal report was however made by the security guard in question,” said Antero Rossi, who was responsible for security at the church’s three-day event.

“Deliberate provocation”

The security guards on duty at the festival were volunteers who had been trained for the event.

“Their operations were completely lawful,” said Kupiainen.

Although the church celebration is open to all comers, event organisers retain control over what kind of material can be distributed.

“The church festival is a politically neutral event and we have the relevant permits. This was a clear case of deliberate provocation, very conscious action,” Kupiainen concluded.