![]() People wearing shirts with Soldiers of Odin logo | |
Formation | October 2015[1] |
---|---|
Founder | Mika Ranta |
Founded at | Kemi, Finland |
Purpose | Anti-immigrant activism Anti-Islam Far-right activism Nordicism Vigilantism Neo-Nazism (factions) |
Soldiers of Odin (SOO; Finnish: Odinin sotilaat) is an anti-immigrant group which was founded in Kemi, Finland, in October 2015. The group was established in response to the thousands of migrants who were arriving in Finland amidst the European migrant crisis.[2][3][4] They call themselves a "patriotic organisation that fights for a Finland" that wants to scare away "Islamist intruders" they say cause insecurity and increase crime.[5]
In interviews as well as on the group's public Facebook page, SOO has denied claims which state that the group is racist or promoting neo-Nazism. However, the group's founder, Mika Ranta, has connections to the far-right and neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement as well as a criminal conviction which stems from a racially motivated assault which he committed in 2005. According to the Finnish public broadcaster Yle, a private Facebook page for selected members of SOO shows that racism and Nazi sympathies are rampant among higher-ranking members. The group's nature has raised concerns about anti-immigrant vigilantism.[6][7]
Though the group denies the claim,[8] Soldiers of Odin have been recognised by both the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League[9] as a hate group. An ADL report states that their apparent purpose is "to conduct vigilante patrols" to protect citizens from "alleged depredations of refugees", and that "though not all such adherents of the group are white supremacists or bigots, so many of them clearly are that the Soldiers of Odin can easily be considered a hate group."[10]
In addition to Finland, affiliates of the group have a presence in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain.[11]