The national-conservative True Finns party (PS) announced its intention to get tough on migrant gang crime if elected. Emphasising ties with migration could put wind in PS’ sails with only a few weeks before Finland heads to the polls.
Helsinki’s chief detective said recently that “gang crime has become the new normal in Helsinki;” PS politicians say it was sadly predictable. According to them, lax measures on mass immigration are at the root of the problem and must be tackled.
Speaking on her party’s news site, Mari Rantanen, a PS MP for Helsinki affirmed the need for action:
Of course, the police are doing what they can with their limited resources, but the decision-makers should … never have [let it] come to this point. The True Finns have been warning for years that by repeating Sweden’s mistakes in immigration policy, Finland will get Sweden’s problems. By contrast, during its four years of operation, despite warnings, the current government has facilitated immigration to Finland by all means.
While the centre-right Conservative party has emphasised the need to boost resources targeted towards migrant communities and to improve integration, by contrast, PS emphasised measures that hit at the foreign origin of many criminals. These include sending non-Finnish felons to prisons in their home countries, and for serious crimes “deportation, entry bans and, if possible, loss of citizenship.”
This comes as part of a growing discourse in Finland over law and order. Finns are increasingly concerned as East Helsinki has recently seen a string of shootings, assaults, and robberies—including the mugging of a 15-year-old boy—as another gang rises to prominence there.
The Finnish government has itself affirmed the ties between migration and crime—particularly rape and sex crimes—and polling from January shows that most Finns are against easing immigration restrictions. By highlighting the connection between the breakdown in law and order, and mass immigration, PS are likely to gain much support.
Finland’s parliamentary elections are due in less than three weeks, on April 2nd. PS are currently polling neck-and-neck with the Conservatives and the ruling Social Democratic party. While PS leads among the youth vote, it remains to be seen if their stance on the twin issues of crime and migration will give them the tie-breaker.
