A group of teenagers turned violent against the police who were on a mission to break up a mass brawl at the Hietaniemi beach between the night of Friday and Saturday.
HELSINKI—Just before two in the morning on Saturday, a police patrol arrived at the basketball court of Hietaniemi beach to break up a mass brawl of a group of teenagers.
When the police caught a person to investigate the cause of the incident, the other teenagers surrounded the police, and according to Detective Superintendent Kirsi Kanth, began “misbehaving by throwing bottles and rocks.”
Some of the teenagers shot firecrackers at the police and the police cars.
30 police cars arrived at the scene. The police demanded that the group breaks up and will have to use tear gas if their orders were not followed.
“Our estimation is that about 20 persons were subjected to the gas,” Kanth says.
The incident finally calmed down after an hour, about three in the morning.
The police caught five teenagers, male, under 18, of which one has been released.
Some police officers were hurt by the firecrackers. At least six police cars were damaged and three cars that were parked near the beach were damaged: windows are broken and the cars were dented.
The police are investigating the cause of the brawl.
