Finland far-right leader accused of racist online posts
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The former Finance Minister's posts include a number of racial, anti-Islamic, and anti-immigrant slurs, as well as threats of violence.
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Four parties' leaders that make up the new Finnish government reach the House of the Estates, Helsinki, June 16, 2023 (AFP)
Two weeks after another minister from the Finns Party resigned over pro-Nazi remarks, Finnish ministers on Tuesday denounced online racist remarks attributed to the party's head.
Riikka Purra, a former Finance Minister who led the far-right Finns Party from 2021, is accused of penning the incendiary remarks in 2008, which included a number of racial, anti-Islamic, and anti-immigrant slurs, as well as threats of violence.
The author of the posts also disparages immigrants, including Somalis and "Turkish monkeys".
In September 2008, she wrote about a confrontation on a suburban train with a group of young immigrants. "If they gave me a gun, there’d be bodies on a commuter train, you’ll see," she blatantly said.
Purra has also been accused of asking if anyone is "up for spitting on beggars," and she used racist slurs historically used to demean Black people.
While the Swedish People's Party's Minister for European Affairs, Anders Adlercreutz, stated on Twitter that "such writings are unacceptable from anyone, regardless of party affiliation," Purra has not confirmed or denied making the comments.
She said, however, that "it would not occur to me to start denouncing or apologising for what I did and said years and decades ago" in a blog post on Monday.
"I used to feel very frustrated and hopeless about certain aspects of immigration in Finland," she added on Twitter. "Then you might say or write angrily and stupidly."
The controversial comments were published under the acronym "riikka" on a blog that was owned by Jussi Halla-aho, her predecessor, also known for his anti-immigrant ideology.
On Monday, people on social media pointed out parallels in the personal lives of blog author "riikka" and Riikka Purra, including overlapping trips to Barcelona, comparable educational backgrounds, and claims of vegetarianism.
On Tuesday, President Sauli Niinisto said that "it would be wise for the Finnish government to take a clear stance of zero tolerance on racism."
Vilhelm Junnila, another minister from the Finns Party, resigned in June due to statements of support for Nazis made earlier.
Junnila had made a joke about the election candidate number 88 being a reference to "Heil Hitler" during this year's parliamentary elections because "H" is the eighth letter in the alphabet.
Politicians from the coalition and the opposition have swiftly denounced the posts, attributing them to Purra. Maria Ohisalo, a former Interior Minister, claimed that Purra "has not only racist but also violent content on the same platform. No regrets, no resignation."
Petteri Orpo, the prime minister of the rightwing National Coalition party (NCP), has not yet commented on the Purra scandal, and it is unknown what effects it will have on the embryonic coalition government.
Also on Tuesday, a picture of a prominent member of the opposition Social Democratic party with a bunch of young people who were either naked, some giving the Nazi salute, surfaced. The occurrence was regrettable, according to Antti Lindtman, who also noted that the photo was from high school, that he had not personally performed the gesture, and that he had never been a Nazi supporter.
