Police ready to respond to violence against reception centres
The Ministry of the Interior assessed the asylum situation at its situation meeting today on Thursday 25 September. Last night, violent incidents occurred near the reception centres in Lahti and Kouvola. The two incidents are not connected, and only the one in Hennala, Lahti was pre-planned. The police took control of the Hennala incident quickly, and the investigations are underway. The authorities denounce the violence as totally unacceptable, and the police are well prepared to respond to such incidents. Communication of information between the local police, receptions centres and the Tornio registration centre will be further improved to prevent any similar incidents from occurring again.
Yesterday, the authorities registered 619 asylum seekers, of whom 320 in Tornio. All those to be registered today have been provided with a place at a reception centre. The backlog of registration at police departments in other parts of Finland has also been cleared.
The Finnish Immigration Service is currently making arrangements to ensure accommodation capacity for the next few days. The reception capacity for unaccompanied minors is sufficient. The Immigration Service is constantly looking for new premises for the reception of asylum seekers, and new partners to run reception centres along with municipalities and the Finnish Red Cross.
Finnish registration centre setting example to Europe
In a short time, the Tornio registration centre has proved to operate so well that that other European countries have shown an interest in adopting a similar model. Finnish authorities have basically stopped the uncontrolled flow of asylum seekers from Tornio to other parts of the country. Norway is currently setting up a centre following the Finnish model. Finland will also present the operation of the Tornio centre to the EU Borders Agency (Frontex); the Finnish model could serve as an example to the 'Hotspots' to be established in Greece and Italy. Experts gathered by Frontex will visit the Tornio registration centre within the next few weeks. The 'Hotspots', on which agreement has been reached at EU level, would be similar to large registration centres.
Expert group to maintain overall situational awareness of migration
The current situation created by the rapidly increased number of asylum seekers is managed by an expert group appointed by Minister of the Interior Petteri Orpo. The expert group maintains overall situational awareness of migration and decides action to be taken and leadership assumed in this exceptional situation. Besides representatives of the Ministry of the Interior, the expert group has a representative from the Finnish Immigration Service, National Police Board, Border Guard, Finnish Security Intelligence Service and Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It is chaired by Päivi Nerg, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior.
Inquiries:
Päivi Nerg, Permanent Secretary, tel. +358 50 456 1012, [email protected]
Ministry of the Interior @sisaministerio on Twitter: #asylumseekers