1949 Kemi strike

The 1949 Kemi strike was a strike in July–August 1949 by the workers of Kemi Oy (today a part of Metsä Group) in the Northern Finnish town of Kemi. On August 18 the strike escalated on a violent clash called "Kemi Bloody Thursday" between strikers and local police, two workers were killed and several injured. Kemi strike is so far the last fatal political protest in Finland.

The Kemi strike is seen as a struggle between Communist Party of Finland and the Prime Minister K-A Fagerholm's cabinet. The cabinet controlled a large part of the trade unions through the Social Democratic Party and the communists wanted to regain the power their parliamentary organization Finnish People's Democratic League had lost in the 1948 legislative election.

The clash

The strike began on July 1, as the government wanted to cut the wages of Kemi Oy's lumber workers with more than 30 percent. It was soon joined by local lumberjacks, employers of the Kemi Oy sawmill and the dockers of Port of Kemi. Prime Minister Karl-August Fagerholm declared the strike illegal as it went on for several weeks. The strike caused a jam of 20,5 million cubic foot of logs to the mouth of Kemijoki river. The employers recruited strikebreakers, bringing them to work under police protection. On August 18 a peaceful march of more the 3,000 strikers was on its way to the estuary, where the strikebreakers were driving logs and releasing the jam. As the march was stopped by armed policemen, a violent riot burst out. Protesters were equipped with sticks and rocks, while the police were using their batons and guns. One striker was shot and a female worker was fatally hit by a truck. It is still unclear who fired the deadly shot. According to official forensic examination the bullet was not shot from any of the police guns.

Kemi

Kemi (Northern Sami: Giepma) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located very near the city of Tornio. It was founded in 1869 by decree of Russian Emperor Alexander II because of its proximity to a deep water harbour.

Kemi is situated by the Bothnian Bay, at the mouth of river Kemijoki, and it is part of Lapland region. The town has a population of 21,807 (30 June 2015) and covers an area of 747.44 square kilometres (288.59 sq mi) of which 652.1 km² (251.8 sq mi) is water. The population density is 228.73 inhabitants per square kilometre (592.4/sq mi).

The main economic activity in Kemi is centred on two large paper and woodpulp mills and on the only chromium mine in Europe (which supplies the Outokumpu ferrochrome plant in Tornio). A polytechnic university of applied sciences is also situated in Kemi.

Kemi also has a claim to fame as the home of the world's largest snow castle (reconstructed every year to a different design). The snowcastle is usually located at the inner harbour of Kemi.

Kimito

Kimito (Swedish pronunciation: [t̠ʃimito]; Finnish: Kemiö, [ˈkemiø]) is a former municipality of Finland. On January 1, 2009, it was consolidated with Dragsfjärd and Västanfjärd to form the new municipality of Kimitoön. Prior to the consolidation, it was one of the four municipalities located on Kimito island, the other three being Västanfjärd, Dragsfjärd and Halikko.

It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The municipality had a population of 3,301 (2004-12-31) and covered an area of 320.17 km² (excluding sea) of which 2.29 km² is inland water. The population density was 10.38 inhabitants per km².

The municipality was bilingual, with majority being Swedish and minority Finnish speakers.

Events

External links

Media related to Kimito at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 60°09′50″N 22°43′40″E / 60.16389°N 22.72778°E / 60.16389; 22.72778

Kemi (disambiguation)

Kemi may refer to:

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