Yle tracked down a Finnish man who organized riots in Britain on Telegram
Yle found out the identity of the man in his twenties and found him in
an apartment building in southern Finland.
A young Finnish neo-Nazi has acted as a background force in the
organization of anti-foreigner riots in Great Britain.
In Britain , especially last weekend, there were destructive riots. They started when three girls were stabbed to death in Southport. According
to the British media, the suspected stabber is a teenager born in
Britain from a Christian Rwandan family.
Riots are planned especially in groups operating in the Telegram
application. One of the most famous groups was managed by a Finnish man.
Yle found out the man's identity and found him in an apartment building
in southern Finland. The administrator is a man in his twenties who runs
a pro-Nazi Telegram channel.
Yle does not publish the man's name, because he has not been convicted
and, according to Yle's information, is not suspected of any serious crime.
Distributed instructions for fuel bottle strikes
The Southport Wake Up group had 14,000 members before the group closed.
The participants planned attack targets and tactics there.
The Finnish man gave other members of the group, among other things, instructions for arson. According to the British anti-fascist research
group Red Flare, the instructions came from a Russian-Ukrainian neo-Nazi
group.
- Something fun to read, the Finn wrote while sharing the instruction file.
https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/c_crop,h_1246,w_829,x_0,y_0/ar_0.6664,c_fill,g_faces,h_954,w_636/dpr_2.0/q_auto:eco/f_auto/fl_lossy/v1723374958/39-133079866b61c03c4d70
In addition, the Finn gave the rioters advice on protecting their
identity and participated in a discussion on the selection of targets.
- I don't like the fact that there is no clear picture of the situation
and management here, he scolds in one of his messages.
There were other administrators in the group. However, the Finn was
quite active and boasted, among other things, that he had "cleaned out
the Jews" from the group in his role as administrator.
Proclaimed the destruction of the Jews in voicemails
The Finn who managed the riot group has had his own channel spreading
Nazi ideology in Telegram for years. He founded it in 2020, when he was
still a minor.
The man says on his channel that he does not encourage people to commit violence or terrorism. At the same time, however, he urges "to destroy
the accursed Jews".
He presents himself as a National Socialist and publishes idealistic
posts about Adolf Hitler . In one video, he moves around the Helsinki synagogue.
- We are tired of explaining to you why we want national socialism, he
says in one of his voice messages.
Below is a short sample of a speech in defense of National Socialism
that he has published on Telegram. The speaker's voice has been changed.
The man's Telegram channel has more than 300 followers from different countries. In addition, he has accounts in services such as Gab and
Odysee. He has had at least five accounts on his former Twitter.
In addition to Nazi material, he has published, among other things,
Hamas propaganda videos.
The riots in Southport seem to have brought influence to the young
Finnish neo-Nazi. Through them, he has been able to distribute extremist material to a many times wider audience.
The police suspected a crime
According to Yle's information, he has not been convicted of any serious
crime.
At the turn of 2021, however, he said on Telegram that he was the
subject of a police investigation. According to the man, the police
suspected him of preparing a serious crime against life or health and confiscated hard drives from his home.
According to Yle's information, the investigation has not led to an
indictment. The investigation has been recorded in the police and
district court records under the milder title of illegal threat.
When Yle's reporter Tuomas Rimpiläinen arrives at the man's door to ask
for an interview, nothing happens at first. After a long wait, a young
man opens the door.
He does not directly acknowledge the connection between himself and the
label that ran the Southport Wake Up group. However, he admits that he
was an active member of the riot group.
- Probably, he says.
– How did you find here?
A couple of hours earlier, he has urged his followers to make baseless
crime reports in order to overwhelm the English police.
The man says he anticipated that the activities in the Telegram groups
created around the riots would arouse the interest of the authorities.
- I thought there would be something to talk to the police about or
something like that. I'm ready for it.
The conversation at the door lasts ten minutes. The man is polite, but
peeks around. He wants to know if there are any police officers nearby.
The man does not want to discuss what he is aiming for with his actions.
- Doesn't bring anything to mind.
Do you feel that because of your writings, you are partially responsible
for the damages that the riots lead to?
- I wouldn't say yes.
We ask him once again to come out and justify his actions in an
interview. He refuses.
- Not now. Some bad clothes on, hair like shit.
The man thanks for the visit, shakes hands and closes the door. Shortly
after the meeting, he continues on his Telegram channel. He publishes a
"fun test" for his followers: how anti-Semitic are you? He gets a result
of 92/100.
In England, inciting riots is going to court
After the Southport stabbing, false information about the incident
spread to the public, fueling protests. Among other things, the
perpetrator was claimed to be an asylum seeker and a Muslim.
Russia's involvement in spreading the rumors has also been suspected,
but this BBC investigation, for example , found no evidence of that.
On the other hand, the social media groups inciting riots seem to have
had far-right actors from outside Britain as active members. The case of
the Finnish man is one proof of this.
Criminal investigations have also been started in England for inciting
riots. For example, the Daily Mail reported on Tuesday that an English
man would be charged for his Facebook post, in which he urged rioters to destroy a hotel that housed asylum seekers.
https://yle.fi/a/74-20104053
Geez.
--
"And off they went, from here to there,
The bear, the bear, and the maiden fair"
-- Traditional
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