5 days prior notice needed to hold public gathering

The organiser must file a written notification of a public event with the Police of the location in question no later than five days before the event start, said police on Wednesday.

In case of smaller events, the Police can accept a notification made later if the event arrangements do not affect public order negatively, said the National Police Board in a press release.

The Police took the decision following a backlog at handling the public event notifications due to increasing number of various summer events as the COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings were lifted partly.

“In addition to the very many new events now in the pipeline, the busy situation is also due to the fact that the notifications are filed late, and with incomplete information, for the applications to be handled in time,” Head of Permit Service Administration of the National Police Board Hanna Piipponen said.

According to Piipponen, a public event notification filed too late or with incomplete information will cause difficulties both to the permit authorities and the event organiser.

“The five-day deadline is the absolute minimum, but it will not give the organiser sufficient time to implement eventual orders issued by the authorities; the worst case scenario is that the event must be cancelled,” Piipponen said.

Piipponen underlined that it is always the organiser who is responsible for the event and public safety.