In the remote, northern Finnish town of Oulu where he has lived for seven years, Syrian-born Jabo Waleed started feeling recently that some people’s behaviour towards him was becoming less welcoming. I can honestly say it’s not like before,” Waleed told AFP in fluent Finnish from behind the counter of his kebab shop in the town centre. Waleed’s experiences have been echoed by many other immigrants across Finland, since police in Oulu announced in December the arrest of nine suspects, all of whom had arrived in Finland as refugees or asylum seekers, for suspected sexual offences against minors.
