KH Burnt to the Ground in Rural Finland, Police Strongly Suspects an Arson

[LoneWanderer]

I am visiting my mom who has been hospitalized in Finland for a few weeks now, and some unpleasant news reached me this morning. Apparently a Kingdom Hall in a small village of Yläne, some 190 km/120 mi NW of Helsinki, was burned to the ground some time last night. The police suspects work of an arson.

 

Source article in Finnish: https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10934445

Since the article is not found on the English website of the Finnish Broadcasting Company, here's an approximate translation by moi:

 

Quote

The Kingdom Hall That Burned Down Last Night Was a Target of an Arson Already Last Weekend in Pöytyä--Police Detains a Suspect, Congregation Members Down-Hearted

 

The police say there is strong evidence suggesting the fire was a result of an arson

 

A suspect has been detained regarding the fire in the early morning hours of a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall in the village of Yläne in Pöytyä municipality.

 

Chief investigator in the case, Crime Commissioner Ms Kristiina Kontio explains that that the police are looking in to the connection between the fire and the detained individual. The person in question has been in contact with the congregation at an earlier occasion.

 

The building located on Hinnerjoentie [of the Yläne village] was destroyed by the fire that took place in the early morning hours. Police are investigating the fire as a serious case of attempted arson and as a serious case of arson.

 

Police Are Looking for Tips

Crime Commissioner Ms Kontio says that the Kingdom Hall was a target of an arson already last weekend.

– Someone had tried to lit the building up last weekend, the night between Saturday and Sunday, and for this we have quite clear evidence.

Technical examination was conducted at the spot at the time, but nothing has come to light concerning a possible perpetrator or a motive.

According to Ms Kontio, the local congregation has got no knowledge of any hate targeted toward them. She says there are no eyewitness observations.

Any tips regarding movement around the building during the night or other possible information can be left at [police contact details].

 

Congregation Members Met in the Evening

Mr Kullervo Huppunen, an elder from a Jehovah's Witness congregation in [nearby village of] Säkylä, feels sad.

– This is a sorry sight, he exclaims looking at the results of last night's arson.

His thoughts haven't cleared up yet half a day after the fire occurred.

Huppunen says that the congregation members will be discussing the situation and the future on Friday evening.

– We will see where we are at the moment and what is there to be done.

Huppunen does not have a reason why a Kingdom Hall would have been burned down. He does think, however, that the perpetrator, or perpetrators, have got to have a lot against jehovah'switnesses (sic).

– You have got to have some kind of hatred or fury to go that far. The first time around was not a success, and yet they try it once more. This can not have been done in a whim, Huppunen says.

 

Only Walls Remain

The On-Call Fire Commissioner, Mr Hannu Karppi says that only the outer walls were standing early in the morning around half past three. The brick roof of the building had come tumbling down during the fire.

No-one is known to have been inside during the fire.

At six o' clock there was still smoke rising from the ruins, says reporter Ms Minna Rosvall who was at the site of the arson.

– Around five o'clock firemen were hosing water at one of the walls so that it would not catch fire again. After that no extinguishing work has been done, Ms Roswall reported in the morning.

The fire department chose not to clear the area completely for the sake of the police investigation at the site.

 

Sadly this was not the first case of a KH arson in these parts of the world. A Greater Helsinki area Hall was burnt back in 2006, and apparently another Hall in the same region was burnt down twice earlier; once in the 80s and once in the 90s.

 

Very sad of course, but does seem very random. The police said that the detained person had been in contact with the local congregation earlier, but we don't know what that means. They (obviously) wouldn't know the difference between someone who has been called on once, an RV or a study. My own speculation is that recent biased reporting in the national press [same company who did this rather neutral piece] on "how Witnesses are protecting child molesters" might have caused a reaction in some deranged individual who doesn't understand medial bias.

 

The local congregation, from what I heard by the way of rumours, is only some 20 members strong, and they had their midweek meeting last night. No idea if they had brothers patrolling the Hall during the night after the first try at an arson. Probably not much people to go with and hardly any, if any, younger brothers to help out with this. My dad told me the Police had contacted the congregations (at least the ones in their area) and asked them to do night patrolling on June 6, 2006 (666). Word in the grapevine was that the congregation had just been informed of consolidation with another nearby congregation. Would make sense considering the small size and nearness to the new service year.

 

These poor brothers and sisters surely need our prayers 😢

 

Edited August 23, 2019 by LoneWanderer

[JennyM]

Media spread hatred. 😡

 

..In our region, the media instigated hatred against Chinese people.

 

 

[LoneWanderer]

Various news outlets in the country reported a small piece of news yesterday that (as expected) both the actual arson and the attempt of an arson were doing of the same culprit. Shockingly the culprit, it was reported, is a former Witness. Wording used was a former disassociated member, but I don't know if the media know the difference between someone who disassociated himself/herself and an individual who was disfellowshipped. In any case, I ask why. If you now are so disgusted of serving God, why give it any more thought and let the hatred fester 

 

Also, my dad's congregation had a Branch representative give a service talk on Saturday. He confirmed in his talk the rumour that the congregation who got their Hall burned, had already been informed that their congregation would be consolidated with the nearby Säkylä congregation.