Purra apologises again for racial, violent and anti-immigrant remarks

Finance Minister and Chairperson of the radical rightist Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) Riikka Purra on Wednesday apologised again for the racial, violent and anti-immigrant remarks made on the Scripta blog 15 years ago in guise of a username "riikka".

Purra offered the apology from a joint press conference with Prime Minister Petteri Orpo at the PM's official residence Kesäranta in the afternoon against the backdrop of calls for no-confidence motion made by number of lawmakers.

Speaking at the press conference Orpo said that the government discussed the matter and reiterated the government has zero tolerance toward racism.

The Premier said the government will issue a statement at the beginning of Parliament’s autumn session to promote equality, and non-discrimination in the country and then will call a no-confidence motion as per the leaders of the opposition parties are demanding it.

Earlier on Tuesday, Purra admitted that she made the controversial remarks on the Scripta blog in 2008 and apologised for the remarks.

She offered the apology in her twitter post following reports published in several news media and strong criticism in the social media by people from different strata including political leaders.

Purra reportedly wrote the controversial remarks on the Scripta blog hosted by former Chairperson of her party Jussi Halla-aho, also Speaker of the present parliament.

The comments written using the username "riikka" included several uses of the Finnish equivalent of the n-word as well as other racial slurs, anti-immigrant rhetoric and apparent threats of violence, reported national broadcaster Yle, adding that the texts included racist expressions such as "mocha dicks" and "Turkish monkeys".

In August 2008, it was written by the ID “riikka” that there had not been seen alarming immigration problem in Barcelona and a leading Finnish language daily Helsingin Sanomat on Monday confirmed that Purra was in Barcelona that time.

Yle found some examples of the comments written on the blog where "riikka" in September 2008 wrote about a confrontation on a train with young people from an immigrant background, saying "If they gave me a gun, there'd be bodies on a commuter train, you see."

Earlier on June 30, another Perussuomalaiset leader and Minister of Economic Affairs Vilhelm Junnila decided to resign following the controversy raised over his links to far-right groups.

Another leader and Interior Minister Mari Rantanen faced strong criticism for her social media post related to far-right ideology and immigration.

Speaker of the parliament and former Perussuomalaiset Chairperson Jussi Halla-aho, who hosted the Scripta blog was convicted of inciting hatred against an ethnic group in 2012.