Dozens of asylum seekers march from Lapland into Sweden border town
Some 55 asylum seekers who took part in a protest against Finland’s asylum policies at the northern border crossing town of Tornio have left the country by walking across the border en masse from Finland to Sweden on Tuesday afternoon, according to police in Finnish Lapland.
Finnish police say that Swedish law enforcement officers picked up the asylum seekers who arrived from Finland, after first assembling at Victoria Square for the protest, on the Finnish side of the border.
The demonstrators said they were protesting Finland’s asylum policies, and had reportedly originally planned to demonstrate all afternoon.
A group of counter demonstrators was also at the scene, along with a large group of onlookers.
Via the Lapland Police department’s Twitter account at 3:26 pm on Tuesday, local police announced that the demonstrations had ended and that Tornio’s Victoria Square had been emptied of people.
Watch the protesters silently holding signs in this video by Yle News:
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Census 2016: Nunavut leads Canada’s population growth, Radio Canada International
Finland: Finland asylum seekers to march from Lapland border town into Sweden, Radio Sweden
Norway: ‘Time for new buildings’: Norway border police faces rise in traffic from Russia, The Independent Barents Observer
Sweden: Sweden faces criticism over border controls, Radio Sweden
Russia: Putin signs law easing cross-border cooperation with Norway and Finland, The Independent Barents Observer
United States: With Trump ending DACA program, uncertainty looms for Alaska’s few ‘dreamers’, Alaska Dispatch News
