Finland’s president condemns anti-Semitic acts in country

Finland’s president Sauli Niinisto condemned the two anti-Semitic incidents in his country on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The synagogue in Turku, which is one of the only two synagogues in Finland, was targeted by vandals. The same day, the neo-Nazi group Towards Freedom burned the Israeli flag in the Finnish city Tampere during a demonstration. The group is considered a branch of the now-banned neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement.
Niinisto announced that judicial proceedings have been initiated: “This certainly seems to be the case in Turku and flags were burned in Tampere as well. It is very worrying. But what can be done? We do have cases ongoing in the justice system and that is good. I will say more about the matter”, he said.
Holocaust Memorial Day is held every year on 27 January. The participants use the occasion to warn about the rise of anti-Semitism and hatred in the modern world.
Some six million Jews and millions of other ethnic minorities were killed during World War II. Hitler’s genocide wiped out two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population.