European Gun Sales Soar On Refugee Fears As "Racist Vikings" Prowl Finland's Streets
Last weekend, some 1,700 Germans turned out for a PEGIDA rally in Cologne to protest the wave of sexual assaults that unfolded in the city on New Year’s Eve in the town center.
PEGIDA nearly faded into obscurity early last year when then-leader Lutz Bachmann posted a picture of himself dressed as Hitler on Facebook with the caption “He’s Back”, but thanks to the 1.1 million Mid-East asylum seekers that poured across Germany’s borders in 2015, the anti-immigrant group has seen something of a resurgence over the past six or so months.
While the group claims to be looking out for the interests of the German people, some draw disturbing parallels between PEGIDA and a dangerous far-right ideology linked to extreme nationalism.
Unsurprisingly, movements like PEGIDA aren’t confined to Germany. In Finland the streets are now patrolled by the The “Soldiers of Odin,” a kind of vigilante justice brigade with political overtones and the trappings of a biker gang. The men don black bomber jackets adorned with the Finnish flag and a symbol of a Viking and say they are interested in helping police keep native Finns safe. Here's one of the group's members:
Oh, no wait. That's Odin himself. Our apologies. Here are some group members:
“A group of young men founded Soldiers of Odin, named after a Norse god, late last year in the northern town of Kemi,” Reuters reports, adding that “since then the group has expanded to other towns, with members stating they want to serve as eyes and ears for the police who they say are struggling to fulfill their duties.”
Like PEGIDA, the group blames "Islamist intruders" for rising crime and members often carry signs at demonstrations with slogans like "Migrants not welcome".
As Spiegel notes, the group does have ties to nationalism and the white supremacy movement. “They want to support the police in protecting the population, not only against refugees, even [from] the Finns if they are threatening," founder Mika Ranta told the daily, in an interview. “Like other founding members he referred to, however, Mika is open as a National Socialist,” Spiegel says. “His comrades surround [themselves] with the symbolism of the White Supremacy movement [and] offshoot of the group in Joensuu in the east of the country called on Facebook a 'for a patriotic white Finland fighting organization'".
Last week, we reported that in addition to the attacks in Cologne, there were also some indications that women were accosted in Finland. “Finnish police reported Thursday an unusually high level of sexual harassment in Helsinki on New Year's Eve and said they had been tipped off about plans by groups of asylum seekers to sexually harass women,” AFP said. “Three sexual assaults allegedly took place at Helsinki's central railway station on New Year's Eve, where around 1,000 mostly Iraqi asylum seekers had converged.”
That doesn't surprise Mika Ranta. "The biggest issue was when we learned from Facebook that new asylum seekers were peering through the gates of primary schools, looking at young girls," he told Finnish daily Aamulehti.
The official response to the group has thus far been mixed. "Volunteering is encouraged [and] it is very good that people are interested in the domain of safety issues and want to contribute to environment safety and comfort," National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen said last week in a translated statement. "The most important task, if it is a hobby, is to act by the findings and contribute to a certain area as a preventive sooth."
Yes, police are ok with the Soliders of Odin as long as they are acting as a "preventive soothe," which presumably means they are not allowed to actually intervene on behalf of citizens, but only to report crimes.
Dan Koivulaakso, local politician and expert on rights movements in Finland isn't sold. "The leaders of the 'Soldiers of Odin' are proven to have criminal backgrounds, in cases of racist violence and other violent or drug offenses."
Finnish Interior Minister Petteri Orpo is equally skeptical. "There are extremist features to carrying out street patrols. It does not increase security,” he told national broadcaster YLE last week. "Volunteers have no right to use force," he added.
But The Soliders of Odin don't seem to agree that citizens can't use force when necessary. Here's Spiegel again:
This is exactly what is also called Odin's warriors. They say: We're just on the roads. And if somewhere there is an emergency, we are legally obliged to intervene - like any other citizen. Just look for the patrols for specific circumstances where their intervention by its own account may be required - such as in front of schools where refugees reportedly "observe" children. With their presence, the group wants to protect the children in the village.
And while the group claims it is not armed on its "patrols," Europeans are rushing to stock up on guns and, as we noted earlier this week, pepper spray to protect themselves against would-be assailants. "The number of gun permits issued has recently quadrupled in Germany and Austria after the attacks in Cologne and Salzburg, according to the weapons industry," The New York Post says.
“Women customers include waitresses that need to get home in the evening, and women that walk dogs regularly in the evenings. We are also seeing some coming in to buy them for their daughters,” Gerhard Fuchs, a gunsmith in Innsbruck, Austria, told Central European News.
Here's more from The Post:
One in three criminals in Austria are foreigners, according to 2014 figures by the Interior Ministry. In Vienna, it was almost every other criminal.
In August, fewer than 10 people obtained a license to keep a handgun at home for self-defense, while the number soared into the hundreds in October.
Franz Dorfner, who owns a gun store in Vienna, said he has been unable to keep up with demand.
“I have completely sold out of pepper spray and have to wait at least a month before they can provide me with any more,” he told Central European News.
In Salzburg, where several sex attacks were reported, store owner Constanze Dorn said she too had run out of pepper spray.
“I have never experienced anything like it,” she said. “I have ordered several hundred more. I don’t know how long they will last.”
The demand for private bodyguard services also has skyrocketed.
In Vienna, the White Wings Association is offering free professional protection after the city’s top cop warned women not to go out alone at night.
As a reminder, here's what happens when every German Googles "pepper spray":
Clearly, the situation in Europe is becoming more precarious by the day. Right-wing groups with links to Nazism are now openly "patrolling" the streets while everyone from waitresses to dog owners are now toting pistols when they venture outside.
That's probably not the environment the bloc's founders envisioned when they endeavored to create a passport-free, harmonious union.
Needless to say, this is a tinder box waiting for (another) spark, as the stage is now set for an all-out culture clash with far-reaching political and societal ramifications.
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Remove bagels and their invader swarms.
"White Supremacy", what a joke. Because wanting your nation to stay in the hands of the people whom created it is supremacy... Let's invade Africa and the middle-east and re-colonize them...
If the figures coming out of Brussels & Berlin are accurate, that this year Germany will take 2-10 million 3rd worlders in -- meaning, Germany will blow this year.
No way this can happen without chaos everywhere. Expect similar movements to pop-up all over Europe. I expect many weapons from Ukraine to start making their way Westward as the poor bastard in Ukraine realizes his AK is worth north of 1.000€ (4 months wages for the average person in Ukraine right now) in Germany --- all he has to do is get it there.
I wonder if Right Sector and other such movements, which are currently starved for cash will attempt to capitalize on this?
Congratulations ... the EU has created the exact thing it hoped to stomp out.
If government won't protect its people, don't be suprised when vigilante justice takes over.
That is why it's strange that the lefties stopped pushing 'the people are the government' narrative a couple years ago. Almost as if they knew this was going to happen...
"The destruction of the western capitalist system."
The radical left has been telling you for 100 years. What better way than dump millions of these rapefugees on Europe?
I wish The Vikings would prowl my neighborhood streets.
http://texasmilitia.info/
Advertising on the internet? Here comes the feds, here comes the feds..
Q: Know what you have with 3 militia members in a room?
A: 2 feds and a pasty.
I offer this antidote to your fear mongering: hedgeless_horseman's Revolutionary Call to Arms
Sure whatever.. The first ones the feds destroy will be the militia.. Say hi to that hellfire for me.
If Americans had less fear, it would likely never come to that.
My lucky 8ball says yes, they have found a new and improved exploding battery.
ABOUT TIME
Damn, Gaius. Ain't seen you in awhile.
~"Dan Koivulaakso, local politician and expert on rights movements in Finland isn't sold."~
Why does ol' Dan sound like a leftist to me? "Expert on rights movements"? WTF is that a euphemism for?
They are NOT vigilantes.
They are NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCHmen. Neighbourhood watch groups should start all over Europe. And hopefully do what neighbourhood watchman Zimmerman has done in US. That would clean Europe streets.
yeah? how'd that work out in the sandbox. Sure did a good job getting rid of all them militias and insurgents and terrorists and other nasties...didn't they. Take your irrational fear and frenchy surrender-monkey traits and crawl back under whatever yellow-bellied rock you crawled out from under, m'kay, princess?
The sand box didn't have any mushroom clouds over it that I remember? MIC.. Get a clue
You're an idiot, they are not going to nuke their own territory. They can't use the infrastructure if they trash it. Which is counter to what they want. They want to take over the infrastructure, which is why they haven't just killed us all outright with a direct conflict already. They know we will burn everything to the ground if they try it.
The military is going to nuke themselves and their own families. LOL
@jughead
"frenchy surrender-monkey traits"
Ah, the 'ol French surrender jokes!
These old English racist jokes have been revivified since 2003 by the hate of american warmongers against France, and this hate still persists even in ZH. All this ugly disdain and nasty jokes come from the firm refusal of the French to join America in Irak, in 2003. Since France refused to go to Iraq, American warmongers and neo-cons made French army look like cowards – as a punishment.
But History has proved the French were right, and that the WMD were only a dirty trick to serve as a pretext. Nevertheless, the hate of American warmongers against France remains still there, well alive, even in ZH.
This stale hate still shows through "innocent good jokes" about the “surrender monkeys” and their white flags …
As for the rest, the French can be proud of their Military History: According to the British historian Niall Ferguson, since 387 BC, France has fought 168 major wars against such badasses as the Roman Empire, the British Army and the Turkish forces. Their track record isn't too shabby, either: They've won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10 times. This makes France the most successful military power in European history - in terms of number of fought and won … The French have succeeded to conquer and guard the largest country in Europe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_France
The French surrender monkeys thing is based completely on their performance in WW2.
The mighty French surrendered in 1 week.
Say what you want about the child molester Brits but they fought hard.
That is why the French are surrender monkeys.
@BarkingCat
"The mighty French surrendered in 1 week" = No.
France did surrender to Germany after six weeks of blitzkrieg, yes, but so did every other European country that Germany invaded, and they surrendered a lot quicker than France did. i.e. Norway, Netherlands, Belgium etc.
And don't imagine the French surrendered so easily in WW2 (as it is often said by some haters) :
Contrary to what has often been said, and is also a result of the Nazi propaganda of that time, and the neo-cons hatred in 2003, the German advance (Blitzkrieg) encountered serious resistance from the French troops. In the six week Battle of France, from May 10 to June 22, 1940, the French lost, in military personnel alone, 260,000 wounded and 108,000 killed. A total of 368,000 casualties in six weeks is not something to pass off lightly.
This is 5 times more than the losses of the American army in three months of battles in Normandy in 1944 (21000), and nearly the same amount than the US deaths in 7 months of WW1 (116700)!
It is the air superiority (over 1,000 Stuka bombers knocked out the troops defending Sedan) and the intelligent use of the German panzers that broke the defences and made ineluctable the defeat.
In 1939 and 1940 France was let alone (apart from only 8 British divisions, which succeeded to quickly re-embark at Dunkirk thanks to the sacrifice of the soldiers of the 1st French Army of the North).
France was let alone facing a nazi-fanaticized country with a population of 80 million (vs. 40 million in France), a particularly well prepared war-industry, and an air superiority of 5 vs. 1.
At the same time the “US ally” refused to sell planes on credit to France!
Screw whomever calls those patriots rayciss.
Up to seven blasts and multiple gunfights hit the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Thursday in an apparently coordinated attack claimed by the terror group Isis.
The attacks left seven people dead – a police officer and a Canadian man, along with five attackers. Seventeen people, including a Dutch man, were wounded. It took security forces about three hours to end the siege near a Starbucks cafe and Sarinah’s, Jakarta’s oldest department store, after a team of around seven militants traded gunfire with police and blew themselves up.
The Jakarta police chief, Tito Karnavian, said an Indonesian national, Bahrun Naim, who is believed to be in Syria, was “planning this for a while. He is behind this attack.”
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/isis-claims-responsibility-for-jakar...
No reason to get excited, it is just some kids playing with their toys. Everyone is so surprised when folks do "as seen on tv"
Maybe Im just a little weird, but I feel like calling them "racist vikings" is probably going to be taken as a complement by a lot of them.....
Is this the part of ISIS that the US and Turkey and Saudi Arabia fund and supply and Israel provides medical care for?
The one that does bombings in capital to order, as all of the various horrible Islamic Extremist groups have done? To our order?
Do you recall 'gladio'? You should, because all this terrorism is just an extension of Gladio. Sibel Edmonds, if you are interested, tho lots of other evidence by now.
When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.
And when the gov is full blown crazy psychopaths? Tell me, wtf do we have then? Because when we have people discussing nuclear extermination like it is a good idea... Ho LEE PHUK dude you better fear these fvkerz.
You keep selling that fear, and beating that strawman!
I am not the one trolling for members here slick..
That much is crystal clear, considering that...
I, on the other hand, think that all sounds pretty good.
Continuity of government (COG) is the principle of establishing defined procedures that allow a government to continue its essential operations in case of nuclear war or other catastrophic event.
Might consider this.. iow they will bring hell itself down on anyone/thing that threatens them including nuclear exchange.. but hey .. you just run on in there with your ar blazing and save us..
Your arguments aren't even making since, now, Mr. 1 week and three days.
Try the Yahoo Boards, get some reps in, then come back in a few months and give it another shot.
I am one week and three days b/c of constant bans,, I been here since the days of Marla and I know damn well who you are and your "power" here.
And it only took 10 days, this time, for you to make plain your agenda.
I have my line in the sand.. when the day comes, and it is coming, then I go hunting.. are we clear?
The only things clear to me are: 1) you don't actually fear reprisals from The State, or your wouldn't be posting on this website; 2) you do want readers to fear reprisals from The State; 3) you are comfortable making fallacious arguments.
)1 you don't actually fear reprisals from The State ( I am not making any threats)
you do want readers to fear reprisals from The State ( I want people to know damn well what the State is capable of)
you are comfortable making fallacious arguments.
That was just stupid,
I think you and Hedgeless actually agree on on see key points. Maybe both of you should try and get along. Go out for a beer together and discuss the points you agree on.
Let me help you out here. Spreading fear of the state without having fear of the state = government / AIPAC troll. No, he won't be showing up in Waco for a beer with HH.
HH, it sounds to me like No.9 (or is it smelly, fresh No.2) is green with envy at you my friend.
I have no envy for anything or anyone. Why should I? explain please
Right. Dye your hair. Maybe that will help?
what do we have then? lots and lots of targets.
The more revolutionary the speech, the more conservative the ideas...
"When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."
What about when people fear the people?
a pasty? In other words, two secret service agents and a stripper.
-2 feds and a pasty.
For the avoidance of doubt:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty
In England "Ginsters" will serve you right...
"2 feds and a pasty."
What is a pasty? It's "a folded pastry case with a savoury filling, typically of seasoned meat and vegetables." (UK)
So, two feds arguing over lunch?
Cornish hardrock miners enjoying lunch.