Finland upholds ban of neo-Nazi 'Pan Nordic' group
The NRM is active in five different Scandinavian nations, including functioning as a political party in Sweden.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFFinnish neo-nazis start their Independence Day march with swastika flags in Helsinki, Finland December 6, 2018.(photo credit: MARTTI KAINULAINEN/LEHTIKUVA/VIA REUTERS)Finland's Supreme Court rejected an attempt by a neo-Nazi movement to overturn a state prohibition on its activities in the country, The Algemeiner reported Tuesday.The ruling upheld an earlier decision, which banned the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), following a recommendation by the National Police Board, with the court citing the movement's hate speech against foreigners and Jews and its use of violence, according to the report.Though the NRM is active in five different Scandinavian nations, including functioning as a political party in Sweden, the movement was first banned in 2018, when the appeals court in the city of Turku ruled they should be shut down due to its militia structure and a series of violent acts, including the murder of an anti-fascist demonstrator in 2016, according to The Algemeiner.In 2019, the World Jewish Congress (WJC) urged Sweden to ban the NRM, following the movement's rallies on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day in the cities of Ludvika and Kungälv.
