A housing facility for under-age asylum seekers was evacuated in Kempele in the early hours of Saturday and the residents were transported to another facility in order to guarantee their safety, the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) reveals in a bulletin.
The evacuation is related to the suspected rape of an under-age girl in Kempele on Monday and a protest against the immigration policy adopted by the Government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä (Centre) on Saturday.
Ilta-Sanomat writes that an estimated 300 people participated in the protest on Saturday afternoon. Marjo Valtavaara, a journalist for Helsingin Sanomat, reported from the site before 4 pm that no protesters were no longer to be seen at the housing facility or at the municipal hall.
Migri also reveals that security personnel had to remove roughly one dozen people from the premises of the housing facility. A number of other disturbances, such as people throwing rocks and fireworks, have also occurred in the vicinity of the facility since Tuesday, it adds.
A 14-year-old girl is believed to have been raped in the municipality some ten kilometres south of Oulu on Monday. Law enforcement officers have revealed that the suspects are of foreign origin but have yet to confirm whether or not they are asylum seekers.
One of the two young suspects was released from police custody on Wednesday.