Second stabbing at Oulu shopping centre in a week, police suspect racist motive

Police said the suspect in Tuesday night’s stabbing is over 15 years of age and can be held criminally responsible.

Police in Oulu report that a teenager is suspected of stabbing and injuring a man of foreign background outside a shopping centre on Tuesday night in an apparent copycat attack.

The stabbing took place outside the Valkea shopping centre — the same place where a man stabbed and injured a 12-year-old with a foreign background last week.

The man suspected of carrying out last week’s crime, 33-year-old far-right extremist Sebastian Lämsä, belonged to the Nordic Resistance Movement, a banned neo-Nazi group.

Tuesday night’s victim is an adult male with a foreign background who was taken to hospital for the treatment of injuries to his upper body. However, his wounds were not life-threatening, according to authorities.

Police said the suspect in Tuesday’s stabbing is above 15 years of age and can therefore be held criminally responsible. The motive for Tuesday night’s attack is believed to be racist in nature, police said in a press release.

“There are also indications that the act was a copy of last week’s shopping centre crime,” the release stated.

Later on Wednesday, police announced the attack on Tuesday and the one that occurred last week were being investigated as attempted murder, upgraded from the original offences of attempted manslaughter.

Tuesday’s stabbing incident took place outside the shopping centre at around 9.30pm. The suspect was taken into custody by police shortly after being apprehended by the facility’s security guards.

Police announced at 10.16pm that the situation at the shopping centre was under control. On Wednesday morning, an investigation was launched into the incident under the suspected charge of attempted homicide, police said.

Shocking violence

Finnish politicians have rushed to condemn the attack, with President Alexander Stubb describing it as a “shocking act of violence” and saying racism had no place in Finnish society.

Social Democrat MP Tytti Tuppurainen told Yle that her party was aiming to discuss far-right violence in parliament, and had lodged a motion to that effect backed by every party — except the Finns Party.

The Finns Party’s parliamentary group leader Jani Mäkelä said that his party was ready to discuss the issue, but objected to its “politicisation”.

Interior Minister Mari Rantanen, who is from the same party, called for expanded police powers but denied that racist attitudes in society had caused the attacks.

Racism condemnation

Oulu police, meanwhile, said that they had increased their presence in the city centre and the shopping mall where the two attacks occurred, but that people can still move safely around the area.

The Managing Director of the shopping centre, Heli Sironen, said in a press release that the company was shocked at the events of the last week.

“We strongly condemn all types of discrimination and racism directed at someone because of their background or appearance,” Sironen said. “We wish a speedy recovery to the victims. Our thoughts are with them and their loved ones.”