Finland to probe police support for BLM

Helsinki: The Finnish parliament’s top political mediator has been asked to look into complaints of a lack of police impartiality at a Black Lives Matter rally in Helsinki, it said Wednesday.

The parliament Ombudsman received 16 formal complaints and three alerts "via the internal police ethics channel," a statement said. On June 3, almost 3,000 people gathered for a rally before the government’s headquarters to protest the asphyxiation on May 25 of African American George Floyd by a white police officer.

The complaints accuse uniformed Finnish police "whose job was to watch the demonstration in question, of taking part by holding a sign and expressing support for the demonstration during interviews there," the statement said. The lack of impartiality expected of police "was criticised in particular", it added. Plaintiffs also complained that the rally was authorised to begin with, given restrictions in place aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus.