A group of Orthodox youth joined the Finnish community leaders who gathered at the gates of the Helsinki Synagogue to lay bouquets of flowers in a show of solidarity with Finland’s Jewish community, which has been subjected to a spike in anti-Semitic attacks this year.
The action was prompted in part by a recent incident in which anti-Semitic stickers bearing the likeness of the Star of David were plastered across the city, including near the synagogue and in front of the Israeli Embassy in Helsinki, reports Helsinki Times.
The stickers were believed to be the result of coordinated hate crime among neo-Nazi groups across the Nordics, and were placed on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, a Nazi pogrom against Jewish people that occurred in 1938.
In attendance at the November 18 flower laying included the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pekka Haavisto, as well as other political figures and community leaders.
The group of Orthodox young people was led by Fr Heikki Huttunen.
Fr Heikki Huttunen and a young representative of the Orthodox Parish in Helsinki addressed those present.
— Source: basilica.ro / Photography couresty of ort.fi