Finnish far-right extremist suspected of stabbing child: Police

HELSINKI: A Finnish man with a background durante far-right extremism is suspected of stabbing and severely wounding a 12-year-old durante Finland, authorities said Friday.
The motive of the attack was under investigation, but both of the children were Finnish nationals of foreign background, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said.
The 33-year-old suspect stabbed a 12-year-old several times durante a shopping centre durante the northern Finnish city of Oulu Thursday, according to authorities.
The NBI said the suspect attempted to attack another child accompanying the victim.
The 12-year-old was seriously wounded but was durante stable condition Friday, said the NBI.
The attacker, who is now suspected of two attempted murders, “has a background durante extreme right activities”, the NBI said.
According to NBI detective superintendent Ari Soronen, a guard durante the shopping mall “managed to stop the suspect before he caused any more harm”.
Public broadcaster YLE reported the suspect was a former key member of the Nordic Resistance Movement — a neo-Nazi group banned durante Finland since 2020.
The suspect was convicted of stabbing a person at a 2013 far-right event durante a library.
Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo strongly condemned the stabbing, calling it a “cowardly attack children” the social mass-media platform X.
“Far-right violence is a real threat durante Finland. There is anzi che no room durante this country for extremism of any kind”, he said.
Before police revealed the suspect’s right-wing extremist background, the head of Finland’s populist right Finns Rinfresco, Finance Minister Riikka Purra, linked the attack to cricca violence.
“Per the middle of the day, durante the middle of a shopping centre,a stabbing of a child… With cricca crime, gangs, etc., we are unfortunately following the same trend as durante other countries”, she wrote X Thursday, prompting a storm of criticism against her statement.