Finland’s “Nyt Saa Riittää! – Enough is Enough!” Protest Against Austerity

[Joe Shlabotnik]

The event was launched by several groups on social media under the slogan “Nyt Saa Riittää!” (“Enough is Enough!”). According to one invitation on Facebook, it was a “non-racist” and “politically non-aligned” expression of “dissatisfaction with the country’s current political state”, warning that budget-cutting policies are “undermining the welfare state”.

The demonstration started at 17:00 pm and was held peacefully until the protestors reached a ‘restricted area’ and stepped up the stairs in front of the parliament building.

The police began to use tear gas to keep people from the Parliament building and the march ended around 20:00 local time (1700 GMT). The demonstration appeared to be one of the fiercest in recent Finnish history.

The Finnish government reached a structural reform scheme in August last year, aiming to tackle the “sustainability gap” in the state budget. The reform included cutting government spending, reducing family benefits, raising the effective retirement age and others.
Last month, the government decided to launch a further cost-saving package to cut a total of 2.3 billion euros (about 3.17 billion US dollars) by 2018, including slashes of child benefit and earnings-related unemployment security payments.

More at: http://revolution-news.com/finlands-nytsaariittaa-enough-enough-protest-austerity/

[ellenrr]

1. Very interesting. First time I've heard of anti-austerity demos in Finland. yes!