Sammallahti wrote that the Finnish left, in his opinion, had remained silent about the riots in France. He claimed that masked antifascists had waved Palestinian flags, set major cities on fire, looted stores, and assaulted bystanders. Sammallahti assessed that the left's reaction would have been stronger if there had been features interpreted as right-wing in the riots. Sammallahti also claimed that in Finland, antifascist actors operated particularly under the protection of the Left Alliance and the Greens, and had organized events such as Kuokkavieraat, Smash ASEM, Kiakkovieraat, and Makasiinimellakat, as well as the Luokkaretki lähiöst linnaan event and the activities of Extinction Rebellion. According to him, the connections of far-left groups to current politics had not been investigated in Finland because there had been no lustration and the media had a sympathetic attitude towards the left. He added that leftist politicians had sometimes carried symbols of violent extremist groups and that some of the event organizers had advanced to influential political positions. Sammallahti hoped that leftist politicians would autonomously condemn the actions of their like-minded peers. He believed that the violence of the far-left should be prevented rather than understood, using soft and, if necessary, hard means. https://t.co/CXoRZ8GE6X https://t.co/YStFgDHL6U https://t.co/6EQpCOTZAo https://t.co/OOq0ayZ4Ou #vasemmisto #mellakat #antifasismi (translated)
