Still no clarification on the Elokapina performance permit – the committee left the matter on the table

According to the chairman of the Urban Environment Committee, this is a lack of confidence.

The Lahti City Environment Committee has left the request for rectification by the environmental company Elokapina on the table. The request for rectification concerned a controversy that had been raging for a couple of months over an art performance by Elokapina.

Elokapina wanted to organise an art performance on the statue of Paasikivi and on the statue of Mannerheim’s horseman.

The chain of events started when the city’s regional permit officer granted Elokapina a permit on 25 February to organise the event from 26 February to 4 March.

According to the living room, it would have been the decoration of the statues in a \”aesthetic and respectful way\”. The decorations were to be on display for a week, after which the statues would have been restored.

Instead of performance, the Mannerheim Riding Statue at the Lahti Railway Square was seen on 1.3. A protest involving a handful of Elokapainen activists.

At the extraordinary meeting of the Board thereafter, the rapporteur proposed that the temporary license is in force. However, it was decided to refuse the permit.

Administrative Director: the Lahti acted wrongly

Yesterday, the appeal was discussed at a meeting of the Urban Environment Board on Wednesday, where it was decided to leave it on the table.

The Board does not trust Elokapina

According to Francis McCarron, chairman of the Urban Environment Committee, the panel wants more information on what kind of event it is.

– We were told to look at Instagram what these performance installations are. It is not the task of the panel to look at what’s coming from Instagram, but the applicant must tell what the issue is and answer any additional questions.

McCarron reminds us that the living room is not considered a reliable body.

– Trust in the living capacity is very hard. We were worried about whether the same kind of bump here was repeated to be the target of the Parliament House. That’s why we didn’t want to go. We felt that it is more important to protect public property than to take the risk of being shaken.

Elokapina thinks we are talking about the wrong things

Jani Ruohola, a representative of Elokapainen, who commented by email, regrets that the debate on the procedures guides the attention in the wrong direction.

– Unfortunately, the publicity of the matter has gone in the wrong direction. The intention was not to stimulate debate on the actions of the Board, but that politicians, and in particular the current government, are making a very harmful policy that is very harmful to the fight against the climate and environmental crisis, contrary to all available information available, writes Ruohola.

According to Ruohola, the denial of permission simply because the applicant is a local group of Elokapapi, is not legally justified.

According to Lahti Elokapainen, future activities will be decided later.

– If the livestock or one of its groups, such as the original presidential statue campaign, designed a middle class cap, reorganizing a similar statue, we could apply for a new time in Lahti as well. However, no decision has yet been made.