Helsinki is burning!
Story from the land of fennougric weirdness!!
To cut the long story short, there has been these "makasiinit", pile of old railroad warehouses left unused by the VR, the state-run railway company, some decades ago. However there has been for years plans to built something to the area, as also the same time there was lots of jumble-sales, organisations and music events arranged at this place. For example the band Eels had a concert there, which I would´ve rather have seen because the venue is burning just about now.
Makasiinit is in very central Helsinki, just across the house of parliament and other side to that main railroad station with the pictoresque statues holding things. To the site there are plans to built a new music house, which on the hand had been objected by some and nagged by the other that it would be too small from the beginning. But in any case, the place is central and the value of the land is high, as just across to it showing from the pictures there´s also this Sanoma-complex of the Finland´s largest publication/newspaper company.
Before the actual bigger attack to these wooden-built warehouses which are some 100 years old, there were wide range of anarchists and demonstration-oriented looters assembling there during the mayday, collecting also lots of just ordinary people, making it so that according to the news there were some 200 ppl. Trouble was, that also then there was a big fire that was torched in the middle of the magazines and some people got out of hand and attacked also against both the policemen as also the fire dept. vehicles that came to instinguish the fire.
But somehow the idea of burning the magazines persisted, rendering Helsinki a bit closer to Belfast of the 80's or current-day Monrovia for some short moments on today.
http://www.kommandiitti.com/kuva/1522
http://www.kommandiitti.com/kuva/1521
The pics were taken just few hours ago when I´m writing this, but the event is rather interesting as I don´t remember any other nordic city, or even some other european one, were fairly big structures have been burnt intentionally. The burning is not quite a co-incidence, as on tomorrow it was scheduled that the work for dismantling that was to be started.
I can already imagine the headlights on tomorrow and the internal ministry once again, as also after the mayday-incidents, underlining that there really is something wrong and the there are elements of Terrorism in our safe European home.
Mikko, Finnland
Post je objavljen 07.05.2006. u 09:34 sati.