Left Alliance expels member over death threat against minister

The Pirkanmaa district organisation of Finland’s Left Alliance has expelled member Mika Tammi over social media posts that included a death threat against Social Affairs and Health Minister Wille Rydman, Yle reports.

The organisation held an extraordinary district meeting on Wednesday to consider Tammi’s expulsion. Iltalehti and Ilta-Sanomat reported that posts published by Tammi on X circulated on social media at the end of August.

The Central Finland Police told Yle that it was investigating threatening messages but did not specify who had published the messages under investigation.

In a statement, the Pirkanmaa Left Alliance said Tammi’s posts came to the attention of the district chair one and a half weeks ago. The district board immediately decided to convene the extraordinary meeting.

“We do not accept any kind of violence, threats of violence or hate speech,” Pirkanmaa Left Alliance chair Veera Kiretti said in the statement.

Kiretti said Tammi had not taken part in the district board’s or the party’s activities at any point this year.