Formation October, 2015 Purpose Neighborhood Watch | Founder Mika Ranta Type NGO | |
 | ||
Soldiers of Odin (SOO) is an international anti-immigrant street patrol group founded in Kemi, Finland in October 2015. The group was established as a response to thousands of asylum seekers arriving in Finland amid the European migrant crisis.
Contents
SOO has denied claims of being a racist or neo-Nazi group in interviews and on their public Facebook page. However, the group's founder, Mika Ranta, has connections to the far-right Finnish Resistance Movement and a criminal conviction stemming from a racially motivated assault in 2005. According to the Finnish public broadcaster Yle, an alleged restricted Facebook page for selected members of SOO suggests that racism and Nazi sympathies are rampant among higher-ranking members. The group's nature has raised concerns of anti-immigrant vigilantism.
History
SOO was founded in the town of Kemi in Northern Finland in October 2015 in response to an almost ten-fold increase in the number of migrants to Finland following the European migrant crisis in 2015. The founder is Mika Ranta, who, while a self-declared neo-Nazi and member of the Finnish Resistance Movement, maintains that his personal views do not represent the group as a whole.
The group gained momentum in 2016 after incidents such as the New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany, the January 2016 stabbing death of Alexandra Mezher, and other migrant-related crime incidents.
On March 15, 2016, Soldiers of Odin announced on their Facebook page that they had intervened in the attempted sexual harassment of two underage girls. The group also claimed that the perpetrators were two refugees and that the police thanked Soldiers of Odin for their actions. Further investigation revealed that neither the police nor any bystanders had any knowledge of the event. On March 16, 2016, Soldiers of Odin admitted that one of their members fabricated the story. The group apologized for the announcement and said that the member would be expelled.
The group's number of Facebook likes in Finland alone was more than 46,000 in October 2016. The group began patrolling in Norway in February 2016. which was profiled temporarily in the start-up phase by Ronny Alte, a former leader of the Norwegian Defence League and Pegida activist. The group began patrols in Sweden in March 2016, marching in several cities and towns.
According to Yle the Soldiers of Odin have connections to MV and have been promised good visibility in it. In addition to being racist and fascist, MV website and its owner, Ilja Janitskin, have strong pro-Russia ties.
Presence outside Finland
Sons of Odin claims a membership of 600 in Finland. The group also has a presence in Sweden and Norway; however, the Norweign prime minister condemns the group. The group has a presence in Estonia even though Estonia "has almost no asylum seekers or refugees." Additionally, Sons of Odin has a following in the United States, Canada (British Columbia and Quebec), Britain, and Germany.
Canada
Soldiers of Odin established a group in Yukon, Canada, in 2016.
Soldiers of Odin were seen patrolling the streets of Edmonton, Canada, in July of 2016. The group told the police that they were not "anti-immigration", and the police confirmed the group had not engaged in any criminal activity as of September 2016. The Edmonton police did say that "If they are the Soldiers of Odin like they are in Europe, we are going to be very concerned".
A Soldiers of Odin group began patrols in Vancouver, Canada, in September 2016 but claimed to be independent and not affiliated with racist and biker groups.
Joel Angot, the president of Soldiers of Odin Canada, has said that his group supports "sustainable immigration." The group's bylaws, however, state that Canada "accepts "refugees from countries that hate us."
United States
In early 2016, a number of white supremacist activists in the United States "were already attempting to create their own Soldiers of Odin groups in the United States, primarily using Facebook as a recruiting and propaganda tool." A number of disparate small groups joined together as Soldiers of Odin USA and "secured official sanction from the Finnish Soldiers of Odin as the 'official' American chapter." Soldiers of Odin USA has various state chapters, ranging in size from a small handful of members to 75 members. The group's organization is reminiscent of a motorcycle club. An examination performed by the Anti-Defamation League of Soldiers of Odin USA's private Facebook group found that members were predominantly white supremacists (including Skinheads, Neo-Nazis, neo-Confederates, and knights of the Ku Klux Klan), self-described Norse pagans, and anti-government extremists and militia group members, including followers of theThree Percenter movement.
Reception
The Finnish National Police Commissioner, Seppo Kolehmainen, caused confusion when he initially welcomed the establishment of street patrols. In response, the Minister of the Interior, Petteri Orpo, said, "In Finland it is officials who oversee and take care of order in society. It is a simple matter and we will stick to it." Finnish Security Intelligence Service regards the group as unsettling.
Norwegian police initially expressed mixed reactions to the group, with some departments announcing that they would send marching members away, while others said the group was unproblematic. It caused some controversy when Progress Party MP and spokesperson for justice Jan Arild Ellingsen applauded the establishment of the group, saying they should be "praised". Government and party leaders quickly distanced themselves from his comments, stating public security to be the responsibility of the police.
The Estonian Prime Minister, Taavi Rõivas, criticized the group saying, “In the Republic of Estonia law and order is enforced by the Estonian police. Self-proclaimed gangs do not increase the Estonian people’s sense of security in any way; rather the opposite.”
Trademark
In spring 2016, the Finnish Patent and Registration Office accepted a request to register "Soldiers of Odin" as a trademark for clothes, footwear and headgear. The owner of the trademark, however, has no connection to the vigilante street patrol group, and is using his brand as a statement against racism and to bring the authorities' decision to accept Soldiers of Odin as a registered organization into question.