Sunday’s meeting of Suomen Sisu brought anti-racism campaigners out onto the streets of Helsinki in protest. The organisation is openly nationalist, and has been accused of extremism.
At the meeting Finns Party MP Olli Immonen was elected chair, bringing fresh scrutiny to the party’s policies. Immonen told the media he wants to reform Suomen Sisu, and that he rejected racism, but he remains an outspoken immigration critic.
Yesterday Finns party leader Timo Soini said he does not have a view on Immonen’s new role, as he regards Suomen Sisu as an association like any other. He admitted, though, that he was not informed of Immonen’s promotion before it happened.
Soini’s stance was criticised by the Left Alliance leader Paavo Arhinmäki, who said that a refusal to condemn comments immigration-critical comments that ’set people against each other’ amounted to silent acceptance.