GALLERY: Finland Wins World Championship in Ice Hockey; Finns Go Amok, Tear Down Fence Around Statue of Havis Amanda in Helsinki

The historical Havis Amanda statue located at the corner of the Market Square was surrounded by a plywood fence before the world championship final in ice hockey on Sunday, 29, 2022. After midnight, the fans teared it down. Photographs: TONY ÖHBERG/FINLAND TODAY

HELSINKI—“The wall has collapsed!” screamed a man waving the Finnish flag, drinking beer from a can and stomping on a piece of plywood.

The time was past midnight, somewhere around 01:00 on Monday morning, and the revelers had been kicking the surrounding plywood fence, tearing it down piece by piece, until finally, the route was clear to ascend the statue of Havis Amanda. Generation after generation has climbed on top of her, the sculpture of a mermaid erected in 1906, if not while celebrating May Day then the ice hockey world championship!

Sunday night and the wee hours of Monday morning were no different after the Finnish national hockey team, Leijonat, beat Team Canada 4–3 for the gold medal at the Nokia Arena in Tampere, central Finland. (This was Finland’s fourth world championship win.)

But why was there a fence and a couple of security guards protecting the sculpture in the first place?

The goal, according to Laura Aalto, the executive director of the culture and leisure division of the City of Helsinki, was to safeguard the fragile statue from breaking, and on the other hand, the goal was also to protect people from injuries.

At this writing, it was unclear if Havis Amanda had suffered any further damage.

People also went amok at the roof of Kappeli—a restaurant opened in 1867—next to the statue in the Esplanade Park.

A security guard seemed helpless when man after man ascended the back wall of the building.

It seemed that hundreds of people had taken over the roof, and later the police reported that one person fell down on the ground.

The celebrators also climbed on top of tram stops and poles holding traffic signs and lights, if not to take off their clothes (show your dick was a typical scream) then to ignite signal flares.

The crowd consisted of thousands of people, and at one point an unnecessary fight that involved several people and the police broke out.

“In Helsinki, the ice hockey world championship has mostly been celebrated peacefully,” the Helsinki Police Department noted in a statement on Monday.