Finnish PM condemns politicians for racism

Finnish Prime Minister Petri Orpo has condemned politicians from the country’s right-wing Finns party, a member of the four-party ruling coalition, for posting photos and videos on social media of the sideways gesture, often seen as a racist symbol against Asians. “This is becoming childish,” the prime minister said on Sunday. Two days later, he told reporters the issue was “causing damage to our country.”

Two MPs, Kaisa Garedew and Juho Eerola, and MEP Sebastian Tynkynen said they posted the photos in support of Sarah Dzafce. Sarah Dzafce was stripped of her Miss Finland title last week after distorting her eyes in a photo in a joking reference to a Chinese national. Zafis initially said his eyes were wide open due to a “severe headache” but eventually apologized.

Finnish MP Juho Eerola posted a picture of himself making a sideways eye gesture on Facebook | Screenshot from Facebook

Politician says he meant no offense

Towards Asahi Shimbun On Monday, Elora said he had no intention of insulting anyone and that he posted the photo to make a statement about the pageant winner because he felt she had been “disproportionately harshly punished.” He added that “I am deeply sorry that my photo offended people in Asia” and was prepared to apologize “as many times as necessary.”

Also on Monday, the Finnish Embassy in Japan posted on

Finnair, Finland’s national carrier, told Yle on Tuesday that the racially charged photos were damaging the airline’s operations. “We received multiple comments on Finnair’s Japan

Finnish domestic airline Finnair faces online backlash

Online petition gets more than 20,000 signatures

Yusuke Ohta, a Japanese citizen living in Finland, launched an online petition demanding a formal public apology from the congressman who once again made discriminatory actions. He also called for a “formal nationwide inquiry into discrimination against minority groups, including Asian communities” and for “national guidance on recognizing and preventing discriminatory speech to be considered and developed”. As of this writing, the petition has nearly 23,000 signatures.

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