A year has passed since two separate racist attacks at a shopping centre in Oulu within a week last summer shocked the city as well as Finland.
In their aftermath, the City of Oulu started preparing a two-year anti-racism action programme, with councillors approving the measure in February.
At the time, anti-racism policy researcher Panu Artemjeff told Yle that the programme was a "significant project of national importance", noting that it would be the first of its kind in Finland.
Shortly after councillors approved the project, the City was granted 1.2 million euros towards the effort from the European Social Fund Plus, an EU funding body.
Now, a year since the attacks, the project's planning is still underway, but concrete details are still being considered, according to the City's administration chief, Ari Heikkinen.
"Of course, we haven't made much progress yet, as the project got started in April," he explained. However, there has been some recruitment and the plans have moved forward, he noted.
There are plans to establish an anti-racism training programme for city staff.
Support centre
A support centre for people who have experienced racism is also in the works, with plans to open it in the autumn.
According to Heikkinen, the centre will be the first of its kind in Finland. He said the most important goal of the project is to increase the level of trust between the residents of Oulu.
"Of course it may seem bit abstract to say that the most important thing is to promote good relations and mutual trust between the people of Oulu, but that really is the most important thing. The plan's measures should support that," he said.
Heikkinen noted that the City was working closely with the government on the programme.
Last week, government ministers, and all of the coalition's party leaders, took part in a one-hour anti-racism training session. It focused on understanding racism and its manifestations. The session was part of a broader anti-racism initiative launched after revelations in summer 2023 about past racist writings by several Finns Party ministers.
According to Heikkinen, the justice ministry is monitoring the implementation of Oulu's anti-racism programme.
Last month, the City joined the European Coalition of Cities against Racism (Eccar), a Unesco initiative aimed at ending racism in cities. As it joined, Oulu pledged to report about the effectiveness of its anti-racism plan.
"Racism seems to be a phenomenon that we will unlikely be able to completely eliminate with programmes and projects, but we can certainly curb extremist phenomena to some extent," Heikkinen said.
Attacks in Oulu
During last summer's first attack, Juhani Sebastian Lämsä, who has a history of neo-Nazi activity, stabbed and seriously wounded a 12-year-old child at the Valkea shopping centre, and then tried to stab another victim who was 14 years old. Both of his targets were of foreign background. A court found Lämsä guilty of attempted murder charges, but did not hand him a prison sentence as a psychiatric assessment found he was not criminally liable at the time of the crime.
About a week later, a 15-year-old stabbed and injured a man of foreign background at the shopping centre, in what police characterised as a copycat attack. A court dismissed a murder charge, finding the teen guilty of attempted manslaughter but criminally unaccountable due to his age.
The stabbing victim in that case recently told Yle that the repercussions of the attack had left him unable to work because of constant fear and anxiety that someone else might try to kill him.
Oulu saw a third stabbing attack involving an underage victim of foreign background last September. The victim was severely wounded but survived.
That case went to trial in December, with the city's district court ordering the defendant to undergo a psychological evaluation.
