The Helsinki Notebooks

Since 2014 a right-wing march titled the ‘612 torchlight procession’ has been organised in Helsinki on the 6^th December, the Finnish independence day. The march convenes each year at 6.30 pm at the inner city, white upper middle-class Töölö Square, where numerous influential far-right figures are invited to give a speech. From there the march proceeds to the near-by Hietaniemi graveyard, where the fallen heroes of Finland’s wars are commemorated by a wreath laying ceremony.

To contextualise the march, in the 2011 parliamentary elections the populist rightist Finns Party¹ suddenly rose from a small and insignificant party with less than 5% support to the third biggest party by gaining 19,1% of votes. Populist anti-immigration and anti-EU rhetoric seemed to appeal to many. From the first 612 torchlight procession in 2014 with just circa 200 participants, the attendance of the march has risen rapidly to over a thousand for Finland’s Centenary in 2017.² In the post-Covid-19 years, the numbers have soared with the annual turn-out now ranging around 400-500 participants.³

The march claims to be politically non-aligned, with the organisers claiming, “the sole purpose [is] to celebrate our country’s independence and honour the sacrifices made by past generations to achieve it.”⁴ Accordingly, the organisers advise participants to leave any political symbolism at home. The march is organised by 612.fi, an unregistered association that according to their website does not have other activity than to organise the annual torchlight procession.⁵

However, one does not have to dig deep to find connections to various fascist and neo-Nazi groups. For instance, the website of the march has been set up by the far-right Nordic Resistance Movement, an inter-Nordic organisation banned in Finland by the supreme court ruling in 2019 as an inherently violent organisation that spreads hate speech.⁶ The allocated security persons for the first 612 march in 2014 were members of the Nordic Resistance Movement.⁷ Timo Hännikäinen, a racist and misogynist writer and editor-in-chief of a ‘pseudo-intellectual’ journal Sarastus, was the chairperson of the unregistered 612.fi-association and the speaker for the first march in 2014.⁸ Likewise, in 2016 Tuukka Kuru, the leader of the neofascist political party Blue-and-Black movement, was the speaker.⁹ Some of the leaders in Suomen Sisu, another far right organisation, are among the founders of the march, and several leaders of the organisation have been speakers at the Töölö Square.¹⁰ Another connection is highlighted by the fact that all the aforementioned groups have advertised the 612 march on their websites and social media platforms. So, despite the parade denying any connections to these organisations, individuals central to them are organisers of the 612 torchlight procession, and their organisations have helped support and promote the event in various ways.

The presence of other far right groups, such as the Soldiers of Odin, Active Club or Club 8, has been visible in the 612 march. Members of these groups have been seen wearing far-right insignia and some doing Nazi salutes. Moreover, every year before the 612 torchlight procession there is an openly neo-Nazi march from where many join the 612 torchlight procession. In recent years the neo-Nazi-march has been called: Suomi Herää [Finland Awakens]. It announces on its website: “On Independence Day, patriotic Finns will march in support of political re-independence and cultural revival.”¹¹ In 2018 the openly Nazistic demonstration was called “Kohti Vapautta!” [Toward Freedom!]. That year, the Nordic Resistance Movement could not use their own flag, due to it being subject to a pending court case about banning the organisation. Instead, they marched with three German Nazi flags at the front of the procession. Only after the demonstration had passed the antifascist counter-demonstrators, whose access the police were restricting, did the police confiscate the flags.¹² Usually small numbers of neo-Nazis from other Nordic countries and Poland join the Finnish Independence Day marches.

Importantly the 612 torchlight procession has been a demonstration of strength and unity of the far-right movement in Finland. This has been further institutionalised by the Finns Party gaining political legitimacy and acting in the Finnish government.¹³ In December 2024, the relationship was made clear, when Sheikki Laakso and Teemu Keskisarja, two Finns Party MPs, announced that they will not attend the Independence Day reception in the Presidential Palace, but the 612 torchlight procession instead.¹⁴ Under pressure from president Alexander Stubb and the prime minister Petteri Orpo’s condemnations of the decision, Laakso changed his plan to attend the procession.¹⁵ Riikka Purra, the head of the Finns Party stated that it is a parliamentarian’s right to attend the march.¹⁶ Keskisarja joined the 612 march and was the event’s invited speaker.¹⁷ He claimed that one of the reasons for his decision was to annoy the counter-demonstrators.¹⁸

In recent years, the 612 march and other far-right marches of the Independence Day have become a topic in the mainstream media – especially since Keskisarja’s provocation last year.¹⁹ The discussion overwhelmingly focuses on whether the 612 torchlight procession is a far-right march, which many interviewed specialists have confirmed, or not.²⁰ In this public discourse, rightist historians are given media space which they use to relativize and complicate the reading.²¹ However, the media discussion has probably impacted the attendance numbers of the march negatively and those who still participate in it, are among the radical right.

The fact that the very organisation of the 612 torchlight march is far rightist, is of course something that the left and the anarchists have known all along.²² Therefore there has been a large and united counter-protest since 2015 opposing the fascists and neo-Nazis marching in the streets of Helsinki. The Helsinki Without Nazis demonstration has attracted the attendance of some 1500–2000 demonstrators according to police estimates – clearly outnumbering the far-right demonstrations. To keep the two marches separate, the Helsinki Police have taken a clear stance to protect the 612 march from any interruptions from the antifascist Helsinki Without Nazis -demonstration. This decision is evident in the physical positioning of the police, during the procession they have their backs to the 612 marchers and face the Helsinki Without Nazis demonstration. And in the extensive force the police have employed in dispersing the anti-Nazi-demonstrations. In 2023, the police attacked the counter-demonstration that included charging horses into the demonstrators, creating a chaotic and dangerous situation. In the aftermath, 15 complaints to the Ombudsman were made, which the Parliamentary Ombudsman evaluated and concluded that some of the decisions the police made were questionable and that there was room for improvement in the way the police handled the situation.²³

The Varis network, a nationwide anti-fascist network, has identified a wider problem of authoritarian and nationalist thinking gaining ground in the police across Finland. Adding to the argument that the police do not take the right-wing threat seriously due to sympathies. For example, in evaluating the 2015 612 torchlight procession the police stated that it does not differ in agenda from the students’ torchlight procession,²⁴ as both are organised ‘to honour the fatherland’. The Varis network summarises the situation as follows: Anti-fascists have always said that the police are not neutral observers at demonstrations, but active participants in events, characterised by structural and repeated sympathy towards fascists.’²⁵

A new form of right-wing Independence Day provocation was seen in 2024 when the neo-fascist Blue-and-Black movement organised a reading circle in the Helsinki’s Central Library, Oodi. Upon hearing about the plan of the fascist reading circle, the Helsinki Deputy Mayor for Culture and Leisure, Left Alliance’s Paavo Arhinmäki encouraged Helsinki residents in an Instagram post to go to Oodi and fill the space so that the fascists cannot gather there. This callout resulted in a successful counter-protest shutting down the planned event.²⁶ Months later, in March 2025, Helsinki police informed the media that the Oodi library should have allowed the fascist group to have their reading circle in the library.²⁷ Arhinmäki was dismayed by the police’s comment, which comprises the antiracist and antifascist policy of the city’s library spaces.²⁸ In a private email correspondence I asked Arhinmäki how the city is going to avoid the same situation occurring this year. His response was that “the Helsinki Library is organising a children’s event on the Independence Day. Since the library is organising its own activity, in principle, no other activities can be organised.” He added that “We hope that everyone will respect children’s rights and not try to disrupt the children’s event.”²⁹

The strategy of the city brings to mind the Independence Day in 2017, when a children’s event with llamas and bunnies was planned on the Töölö Square as an initiative of a small group of local Töölö residents. Two different departments in the city, not communicating with each other, had granted permission to the far right 612 march and the children’s event. The police decided in favour of the far-right demonstration, ordering the children’s event to take place at another location. The police stated that although the permission for the children’s event was requested first, because the 612 march convenes every year in the same location at the same time it had become a tradition and deserved preference. In this context the police added that the 612 march has not caused any problems in the past and claimed that the counter-demonstrators are the ones that have caused problems.³⁰

This year will be the 12^th incarnation of the 612 torchlight procession, despite strong and overt uncovered evidence by independent anti-racist and anti-fascist researchers and activists that the procession has organisational links to far-right individuals and organisations. And far-right individuals and organisations publicly affiliating with the procession. The mainstream narrative around the procession remains muddled. The police protect the procession at the cost and safety of the counter-protesters. Meanwhile, outside of condemnation, the State has failed to address the far-right influence in the 612 torchlight procession. For anti-fascists the links between the procession and the far-right are strong and conclusive, they will continue to bring to light these connections and will again counter-protest this year’s 612 torchlight procession.

---

1. At the time it was called in English the True Finns. ↩︎
2. The antifascist Varis network point out that the Helsinki Police initially estimated the number of participants in the 2017 612 torchlight procession to be ‘well over a thousand’. But at 10 pm, two hours after the end of the demonstration, retweeted that there had been 2800 participants. The Varis network regards the first estimate to be accurate, which they claim can be confirmed from video recordings of the procession. They also point out that the Helsinki Police hold a bias in regards to the estimate of the participant numbers in the 612 march and the antifascist counter-demonstration taking place simultaneously. The previous year the police estimated that the number of participants in the fascist march was much bigger than it in fact was, and that the anti-fascist one was much smaller than in reality. “612-mielenosoituksen järjestäjät valehtelevat osallistujamääristä – katso video!”, December 10, 2017, accessed November 23, 2025, https://varisverkosto.com/2017/12/612-mielenosoituksen-jarjestajat-valehtelevat-osallistujamaarista-katso-video/. ↩︎
3. The Helsinki Police estimates. ↩︎
4. My translation. ↩︎
5. https://612.fi/. Accessed November 23, 2025. ↩︎
6. “Itsenäisyyspäivän uusi fasistinen perinne: 612-mielenosoitus 2014-2016”, Varis network, November 29, 2017, accessed November 23, 2025, https://varisverkosto.com/2017/11/itsenaisyyspaivan-uusi-fasistinen-perinne-612-mielenosoitus-2014-2016/; “Korkein oikeus kielsi uusnatsijärjestön toiminnan Suomessa – Poliisihallitus: Poliisin tulee puuttua, jos yhdistyksen lippuja tai tunnuksia näkyy”, Anu Leena Koskinen, YLE, March 28, 2019, accessed November 23, 2025, https://yle.fi/a/3-10710878. ↩︎
7. “Tässä ovat soihtukulkueen taustavoimat: Äärioikeistolainen ajattelu jyllää 612-kulkueen taustalla”, Milla Palkoaho, Helsingin Sanomat, 3.12.2014, accessed November 23, 2025, https://www.hs.fi/politiikka/art-2000010875581.html ↩︎
8. On its website Sarastus defines itself as nationalist, European, traditionalist and radical on-line journal and names Joseph de Maistre, Oswald Spengler and Julius Evola as its intellectual fathers. Accessed November 23, 2025, https://sarastuslehti.com/about/.
   According to Varis network, Timo Hännikäinen was the chairperson of the association in 2017. “Itsenäisyyspäivän uusi fasistinen perinne”. ↩︎
9. The Blue-and-Black movement, included in the Finnish party registry in 2022 was removed in 2024 due to discriminatory policies based on people’s ethnicity. It was included again in 2025 after slight, cosmetic changes in the party programme.
   Tuukka Kuru’s speech with English subtitles is in Youtube. Accessed November 23, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi4X1qdTGYk. ↩︎
10. “Äärikansallismieliset marssivat Helsingissä itsenäisyyspäivänä”, Varis network, December 5, 2014, accessed November 23, 2025, https://varisverkosto.com/2014/12/aarikansallismieliset-marssivat-helsingissa-itsenaisyyspaivana/. ↩︎
11. https://www.suomiheraa.com/. Accessed November 23, 2025. ↩︎
12. Banning of the organisation in 2019, after three years of court handling, made the movement to go underground and to operate under various pseudonyms, such as Suomalaisapu [The Aid of the Finns], Kohti vapautta [Toward Freedom], Veren laki [Law of the Blood] and Kansallisradikaalia toimintaa [National Radical action]. They also founded the web platform Patriootti [The Patriot].
    Swastika-symbol or the Nazi-flag are not banned in Finland, but the event resulted in the court to ban the Nazi-flag’s use in demonstrations. ↩︎
13. The Finns Party was in the government in 2015-19, and are now again 2023-27. ↩︎
14. The connection between the Finns Party and Suomen Sisu has been clear from before as well. In 2017 the Finns Party split into two, with the more moderate fraction formed a new party that continued in the government. The more radical fraction of the party, which took over the old party, had come largely from Suomen Sisu organisation, one of them Jussi Halla-aho is current spokesperson of the Finnish Parliament. In a newspaper interview Halla-aho said he resigned from the Suomen Sisu organisation, after becoming the chairperson of the Finns Party. He had been an honorary member of the organisation, joining in 2000. “Perussuomalaisten puheenjohtaja Jussi Halla-aho on eronnut nationalistisesta Suomen sisu -järjestöstä”, Tuomo Pietiläinen, Helsingin Sanomat June 29, 2019, accessed November 23, 2025, https://www.hs.fi/politiikka/art-2000006157717.html. ↩︎
15. Prime minister Petteri Orpo used the opportunity to condemn all extremist movements, clearly referring to the leftists and anarchists opposing to the fascist marches. “PM Orpo: Finns Party MPs plan to attend far-right rally ‘inappropriate and wrong’”, Yle News, December 2, 2024, accessed November 23, 2025, https://yle.fi/a/74-20128690. ↩︎
16. “Finns Party defends MPs joining 612-march”, Yle News, December 1, 2024, accessed November 23, 2025, https://yle.fi/a/74-20128479. ↩︎
17. Joining the march instead of the official governmental reception seem to not have harmed Keskisarja’s political career. In June 2025 he was elected as the vice-chair of the Finns Party. Keskisarja is a historian who is a specialist in Finnish history. ↩︎
18. Keskisarja’s speech on the 612.fi-website, accessed November 23, 2025, https://612.fi/?page_id=314. ↩︎
19. Matti Rämö writes in his analysis that the 612 march has become a ‘sensation machine’ of the Independence Day, “Analyysi: 612-kulkueesta tuli itsenäisyyspäivien kohuautomaatti”, Matti Rämö, Suomen Kuvalehti, December 5, 2024, accessed November 23, 2025, https://suomenkuvalehti.fi/kotimaa/analyysi-612-kulkueesta-tuli-itsenaisyyspaivien-kohuautomaatti/.
    Keskisarja has already made the headlines this year by announcing that in 2025 he will not be joining the 612 march nor the official reception at the Presidential Palace. ↩︎
20. “‘Äärioikeiston vuotuinen rituaali’ – Näin kolme tutkijaa kuvailee 612-kulkuetta”, Petja Pelli, Helsingin Sanomat December 2, 2024, accessed November 23, 2025, https://www.hs.fi/politiikka/art-2000010872665.html.
    Researcher Niko Pyrhönen has said that the 612 torchlight procession very political and nominally a patriotic procession. Among the organisers there is a clear representation from the far right. Pyrhönen adds that violent and convicted neo-Nazis are welcomed in the march. “Näin tutkija kuvailee 612-kulkuetta”, Elli Piirainen, YLE, December 2, 2024, accessed November 23, 2025, https://yle.fi/a/74-20128588. ↩︎
21. “‘Äärioikeiston vuotuinen rituaali’ – Näin kolme tutkijaa kuvailee 612-kulkuetta”, Petja Pelli. ↩︎
22. Online and print media platforms such as Varis network, Takku, Sytyke, Tiedonantaja, and Proletaarit have been writing about the topic from 2014 onwards. ↩︎
23. “Parliamentary Ombudsman urges police to evaluate and develop its operational practices with regard to demonstrations”, Parliamentary Ombudsman of Finland, November 15, 2024, accessed November 23, 2025, https://www.oikeusasiamies.fi/en/w/parliamentary-ombudsman-urges-police-to-evaluate-and-develop-its-operational-practices-with-regard-to-demonstrations. ↩︎
24. The students’ Independency Day torchlight procession is a nationalist conservative procession organised in Helsinki since 1951. Similar processions are organised in other major university cities in Finland. ↩︎
25. My translation. Varis network, “612-mielenosoituksen järjestäjät valehtelevat osallistujamääristä – katso video!”
    The links between the police and the far right are numerous. In discussing police racism in 2017, the Varis network refers to a leaked facebook group with over 2800 members consisting of acting or retired police officers. “Finland probes ‘racist’ police comments on Facebook”, BBC, June 5, 2017, accessed November 23, 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40159392. A more recent case came out in 2021-22 that resulted in three Helsinki Police Department officers’ dismissal due to their connections to the far right. “Police officer dismissed in a case related to far-right ideology”, Poliisi, January 20, 2022, accessed November 23, 2025, https://poliisi.fi/-/poliisi-irtisanottu-aarioikeistolaiseen-ideologiaan-liittyvassa-kokonaisuudessa?languageId=en_US. ↩︎
26. “Counter-protesters shut down far-right reading circle at Helsinki library”, Yle News, December 6, 2024, accessed November 23, 2025, https://yle.fi/a/74-20129709. ↩︎
27. “Helsingin poliisi kehotti kaupunkia avaamaan tilansa ‘fasisteille’ – pormestareilta täystyrmäys”, Mikko Sauli, YLE, March 19, 2025, accessed November 23, 2025, https://yle.fi/a/74-20150341. ↩︎
28. “Helsingin poliisi kehotti kaupunkia avaamaan tilansa ‘fasisteille’ – pormestareilta täystyrmäys”, Mikko Sauli. ↩︎
29. My translation. Private email conversation November 21, 2025. ↩︎
30. “Lapset ja alpakat joutuvat väistymään äärioikeistolaisen 612-kulkueen tieltä Töölössä – ‘Ei voida taata turvallisuutta’”, Kimmo Oksanen, Helsingin Sanomat, December 4, 2017, accessed November 23, 2025, https://www.hs.fi/pkseutu/art-2000005475950.html. ↩︎

To cite this article:

Minna Henriksson, ‘The Politics Behind the 612 Torchlight Procession,’ The Helsinki Notebooks, Vol. 2, No. 5 (1 December 2025).

The Politics Behind the 612 Torchlight Procession © 2025 by Minna Henriksson is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Feature Image: From the 2024 612 procession. Photographer: Sören Kohlhuber, Historian kuvakokoelma, Finnish Heritage Agency