Govt´s tightening immigration policy protested in Helsinki

Several hundreds of people staged demonstration in Helsinki city centre on Tuesday afternoon protesting against the tightening immigration policy undertaken by Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) led four-party alliance right-wing government.

About 400 people brought out the procession with various banners and festoons from Senate Square at about 12:30 pm, which ended in front of Parliament House where the protesters held a rally, said police.

They also chanted various slogans such as “Same taxes. Same treatment” and “No justice. No peace”.

Organised by The African Anti-Racism Society of Finland, a non-governmental organization, people from different strata including students, working immigrants, cultural activists participated in the demonstration where opposition Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP) lawmaker Nasima Razmyar addressed among others.

Speakers at the rally strongly criticised the new government´s tightening immigration policy and demanded to stop any such move which they termed as suicidal, unreasonable and inhumane.

They also announced to hold rallies at all the major cities in the country in August to press home their demands.

The demonstrators said that they should have the same rights and treatment as Finnish citizens because they are contributing to the Finnish economy.

“Currently, the immigrant rights are not well respected and protected in Finland. And a lot of immigrants are not well treated of applying of work,” they said.

“We are a great people who contribute to the Finnish economy. We must be strong and together to oppose the policy taken by Petteri Orpo and his team, “said Ufoka Eugene, co-founder of African anti- Racism Society of Finland.

One of the demonstrators Opi West said that they gathered at the rally as they were not happy with the proposed immigration law.

“We want that the government must go back to the table and come with something that included everyone of us,” said West.

Terming the government as very different, SDP lawmaker Nasima Razmyar said that the programme taken by the government worried her.

"This government, I have to admit that it's very different and I am also afraid and also very worried about the programme that this government has and the discussions that we are having at the moment in parliament," Razmyar said.

The four-party alliance government led by conservative Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) took over the state power on June 20.

Earlier on June 16, leaders of the parties announced the programme, which included tougher immigration, residence and citizenship laws.

According to the programme, Finland’s annual refugee quota will be reduced to 500 persons from the existing number of 1,050 people.

The Government will tighten the requirements for permanent residence saying that Finnish citizenship is not something that will be granted automatically. It will require successful integration.

The government will amend the requirements for obtaining a permanent residence permit and in future it will be possible to obtain a permanent residence permit based on a six-year period of residence subject to certain requirements in addition to the current requirements.

These additional requirements are sufficient language skills demonstrated in a language test, a two-year work history without recourse to unemployment security or social assistance other than for a very short period of time, and a stricter integrity requirement.

Rejected asylum applicants will be prevented from switching to a work-related immigration procedure. It will be possible to remove a person who has been refused asylum from the country even if they have obtained a job during the asylum process.

The income limit for a residence permit for an employed person will be raised to the sector-specific minimum of the collective agreement, however, to no less than EUR 1,600 per month.

Three other components of the alliance government are radical rightist Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party), Suomenruotsalainenkansanpuolue (Swedish People’s Party of Finland-RKP) and SuomenKristillisdemokraatit (Christian Democrats of Finland-CD).