The main headquarters of the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) in Helsinki. Photo: Heikki Saukkomaa / Lehtikuva
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The Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) has revised an article on its official website concerning the so-called “Great Replacement” theory, removing a reference to the 2019 terrorist attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand. The change followed public remarks by Teemu Keskisarja, a deputy leader of the Finns Party, that caused widespread political controversy.
Helsingin Sanomat reported that the edit was made on 1 September, just days after Keskisarja referred to the conspiracy theory during a live television interview on Yle’s A-studio on 27 August.
The modification is the only recent change made to an eight-part collection of articles on Supo’s website focusing on counterterrorism. According to archived versions of the page, the Christchurch reference had been online unchanged since at least December 2021.
Before the revision, Supo’s text described the Great Replacement theory and ethnonationalism as “a central justification for far-right violence in recent years.” The revised version now states that “some perpetrators of terrorist attacks globally have cited the theory as justification for their actions.”
The previous version also included a direct account of the Christchurch attack, in which Australian citizen Brenton Tarrant murdered 51 people at two mosques. Supo had written that Tarrant justified his attack as a defence of “the white population.”
That detail is no longer part of the current version of the page.
Supo first warned about the Great Replacement theory in its 2020 yearbook. At the time, it stated that five separate attacks had been inspired by the Christchurch shooting, and that the theory posed a long-term threat. Supo identified the theory as a motivating factor in several cases connected to far-right extremism in Finland.
One of those cases involved the so-called Lahti terrorism plot, in which the main suspect admired Tarrant, ordered stickers referencing him, and celebrated the “anniversary of the Tarrant stream” in private chat groups. That referred to the Christchurch attacker’s livestreamed killings on Facebook.
According to police investigations, the suspect expressed hope that similar attacks would happen in Finland.
The Lahti case led to convictions for three out of four suspects, all Finnish men, on terrorism-related charges.
In a separate incident in 2024, a 15-year-old boy stabbed a Bangladeshi restaurant worker in a shopping centre in Oulu. Police found that he had researched Tarrant extensively online. The attack was investigated as a terrorist offence.
The Great Replacement theory promotes the false belief that Western societies are engaged in a deliberate campaign to replace white populations with non-white migrants. It has been cited in multiple mass attacks, including those in New Zealand, El Paso (USA), and Buffalo (USA).
This article is based on reporting by Helsingin Sanomat.
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
