Makasiinit burning down!
Anyone got any more info? Anyone got more pics or video? The scene of last week’s MayDay riots is again on fire. I wonder how much this saves the state in demolition and restoration costs? And this certainly won’t improve the poor air quality around Helsinki. And how about this quote from the police just two days ago, looks like the police screwed up bigtime…
Liukku says that the storehouses are not now under special surveillance. The demolition of the buildings is to begin on Monday next week.
A major fire broke out at the old VR railway warehouses in central Helsinki on Friday evening. A column of heavy black smoke from the blaze was visible throughout the downtown area of the city.
Several rescue and fire-fighting crews were on hand shortly after the fire began just before 8 pm.Half an hour later the southern warehouse building was completely engulfed in flames. According to a YLE TV reporter at the scene, the building seemed likely to burn to the ground.
Authorities were taking steps to prevent the fire from spreading from the warehouse area. The nearest buildings are the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art and the Sanoma publishing company headquarters.
Thousands of people gathered nearby to watch the fire, but the mood was peaceful.
Photos by JUKKA HÄYRINEN of Helsingin Sanomat
This is what it looked like first.
http://blogisisko2.blogspot.com/2006/05/tulipalo-helsingin-keskustassa.html
Comment by Anna Amnell — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 9:16 pm
And a little later. Photos by Anna Amnell.
http://blogisisko2.blogspot.com/2006/05/
vrn-makasiinit-palavat.html
Comment by Anna Amnell — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 9:17 pm
Good riddance.
Comment by Finnpundit — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 9:17 pm
Doesn’t seem to be just an incident. However, the guys that started the so-called riots on Mayday wanted to protect the makasiinit for the youth. Why would they start a fire? Mayve it was the pro-music house people speeding-up the process before someone decides to protect the buildings.
Comment by Ragnarök — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 9:17 pm
Finnpundit:
Good riddance.
Why, I am surprised that you prefer the tax-financed music house to the spontaneously formed cultural centre (with no tax money that I know of involved) that the Makasiinit had become. Truly amazed.
I believe it is mainly funded by:
-The Finnish state
-The City of Helsinki
-YLE
-The Sibelius Academy
Whereas all the activity on the Makasiinit was strictly in the private sector, if I am not mistaken.
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 9:26 pm
The whole warehouse area was such an eyesore, kinda like Espoon Keskus.
I wish they had planned to put a nice park there instead of some music center.
Comment by Phil — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 9:30 pm
Absolutely outragous! It’s amazing what people live here.
Comment by Mikael — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 9:32 pm
Finnpundit is against anything that sounds like art, culture, etc. Also, in his opinion people not working 24 hrs/day have to be lazy communists and they should not have any kind of place to meet anywhere in the world to prevent them from rotting together and calling out a communist community in Finland.
Comment by Ragnarök — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 9:32 pm
Damn, I wonder how many day fines one gets for burning down an entire warehouse?! Like, ALOT!
Comment by Phil — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 9:33 pm
I wonder, what is the percentage of Oulu people among the spectators? And are there some prominent pro-music house people with Oulu origins?)
(For those, who don’t get it, big fires are a traditional spectacle and an audience magnet in Oulu. People may follow the fire truck for kilometers to see a good one. In the 70’s, many historical wooden houses burned down “mysteriously” here if they were located on a valuable slot in the center.)
Comment by Antti (the redneck one) — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 10:08 pm
Oh, such a social event. Brings people together.
http://www.tikanpaja.fi/makasiinit_050506/makasiinit_050506.jpg
Comment by Roihu — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 10:30 pm
The air quality here a few blocks downwind sucks ass, that much I can vouch for. That and the stupid [Helsinki] rubberneckers driving downtown trying to get a gape at the most exciting thing to happen on a friday night in a long while.
I’ll bet those bastard arsonists don’t live down here and have to breathe the awful air. One wonders how they managed to set up the place to burn all at once without anyone noticing and calling the cops.
Comment by hfb — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 10:35 pm
Did anybody bring the sausages?! I already have Turun Sinappi.
Comment by tim73 — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 10:42 pm
Phil, what would you be happy with? Now you kind of complain the police not surveilling the Makasiinit. If on the other hand they had kept the area under special surveillance, you surely would complain that the Welfare State Gestapo is concentrating their efforts on such nonsense on your taxpayer money, yeah?
F**k the so-called precarity! I have as much compassion for these idiots as for Taistoites or Islamofascists.
MM
Comment by Moral minority? — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 10:52 pm
Sorry about the broken link. I hope this will be OK. It was a strange sight.
http://blogisisko2.blogspot.com/2006/05/vrn-makasiinit-palavat.html
Comment by Anna Amnell — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 10:55 pm
Phil and Finnpundit are obvious autists. Text books examples actually.
Comment by Anonymous — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 11:00 pm
Wow!
That place was a fire hazard just waiting for a careless moment.
I thought midsummer isn’t for a couple weeks yet.
Comment by Fred Fry — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 11:08 pm
http://asuka.tky.hut.fi/pub/temp/pics/makasiinien_paloa/helsinki_kannabis.jpg
Comment by samwyse — Fri, May 5th, 2006 @ 11:32 pm
Good luck for the assholes who burned that shit down. Down it was going anyway. Now we just get way for the music center more quickly. Köyhät kyykkyyn saatana. Should decapitate morons that does shit like that in the name of some “idea”. Destroying something that belongs to everyone is really smart. And if this wasn’t good enough. My 23:00 display of Mission Impossible III got cancelled because of the smoke in tennispalatsi. I hope they catch them fuckers.
Comment by Keksi — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 12:03 am
That place was a fire hazard just waiting for a careless moment.
Fred, I bet those arsonists were high on the marijuana, that’s what made them do it. Right?
Comment by Phil — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 12:04 am
Phil, what would you be happy with?
They’re damned if they do, damned if they don’t. A tough job, those police officers.
Comment by Phil — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 12:05 am
My 23:00 display of Mission Impossible III got cancelled because of the smoke in tennispalatsi. I hope they catch them fuckers.
Comment by Phil — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 12:08 am
http://www.tikanpaja.fi/makasiinit_050506/makasiinit_050506.jpg
That image has Jerry Bruckheimer production written all over it
Yes and I’m really stoked having to settle for some crappy dvdrip flick 
Comment by Keksi — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 12:17 am
My 23:00 display of Mission Impossible III got cancelled because of the smoke in tennispalatsi. I hope they catch them fuckers.
Nah, you’re just lucky, it’s a lousy movie anyway.
It was quite an impressive fire by the way, wery weird to see the smoke rising suddenly at 10 to seven when you were sitting on the stairs of the judgemental church (well even more wierd was that you couldn’t hear any sirens, but I guess there were too many buildings blocking the way). When we got there, at something like 10 past 8 there were already like a thousand or so bystanders. Nice flames, not wery high anymore at that time though, and you could really feel the heat of the fire next to the hesari building.
Comment by BurrBurr — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 12:22 am
Why the hell did Philip Seymour Hoffman agree to do Mission Impossible III?
Comment by Phil — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 12:42 am
At first I thought you were up to your photoshop shenanigans, but apparently this is for real. How the hell does something this centrally located get to spread so much before anyone notices it?
I wish they had planned to put a nice park there instead of some music center.
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/9606/toolo3tp.jpg
Burn baby burn..
They had planned to preserve a part of the Makasiinit for the new park, I wonder what they will do now..
Comment by Anton — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 12:46 am
flickr photos tagged makasiinit.
Comment by Ryan — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 12:56 am
HFB is starting to sound those yuppees south of Pitkäsilta, hopefully snownose does not bother you during wintertime…cheers from Kallio
Comment by tim73 — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 12:59 am
Includes video
Comment by Henri Sivonen — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 1:17 am
For years the grassroots movement tried to save the Makasiinit. Failing that, they must have thought, if, as they say, the structures are no good, you might as well burn them down then!
Demolition was scheduled to start on Monday but this was much more extravagant, spectacular, and, dare I say, artistic!
Knowing the quality of contemporary Finnish architecture and construction, we all know that what they will erect in place of Makasiinit, will suck eggs. This site is, therefore, destined as the latest entry in the infamous “puretut talot” list. So, if Makasiinit had to go, now at least it happened in style!
But the symbolism in this is much deeper—I wonder if the ar{son,ti}ists themselves fully realise the beauty and significance of their work. Anyway, I’ll leave the discovery of all the symbolic correspondencia as an exercise to the reader.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for erecting a new building in the center of Helsinki specifically for classical music. I personally was even ready to sacrifice this particular site for that purpose. The problem is just that I don’t believe for a second that they are able to create anything in there that would come even close to the qualities and lasting significance of Makasiinit. One only needs to look at the leaking aeroplane hanger next to it to get an idea of what I mean. Or the MI6 headquarters down the road. The Finlandia House in between is a beauty, of course—and it will serve as painful contrast later on.
I am in awe of the braveness of whoever did this.
Maximum respect!
Ten points from the Liber Al jury!
Whare can I witness/purchase other works of art from you?
Comment by Liber Al — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 1:52 am
Why, I am surprised that you prefer the tax-financed music house to the spontaneously formed cultural centre (with no tax money that I know of involved) that the Makasiinit had become.
It would be more fitting that the property were sold to Nokia, so that they could build highrise offices right there, to remind all the parliamentarians and the public as to the significance of private corporations within Finnish society.
Or, better yet, just build new quarters for the Helsinki Stock Exchange right there.
Comment by Finnpundit — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 2:32 am
“Fred, I bet those arsonists were high on the marijuana, that’s what made them do it. Right?”
Funny thing is, they probably set the place on fire by accident while thinking about how to do it on purpose. I always thought it strange how people in helsinki just threw their cigarettes away without stepping on them to put them out.
If I had to guess, they were 15-16 and drinking.
Comment by Fred Fry — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 3:08 am
It would be more fitting that the property were sold to Nokia, so that they could build highrise offices right there …
The old Lepakko building (housing the center of live music, the birth place of Finnish independent radio, and rehearsal rooms for dozens of bands) was demolished specifically because Nokia wanted to build an office there. At the time of demolition Mr. Ollila (CEO, Nokia) was even publicly given one worn out tile as present to remind him what he had just caused to be wiped out from the map (of the Finnish culture scene).
As it turned out, after only a year (or was it two?) of occupancy, Nokia announced that they no longer needed the office space, and the shiny new and expediently constructed building was put up for rent!
Whenever someone tells me they work for Nokia, my standard answer is: “Now that is embarrassing, but surely a talented guy/girl like you could get a real job too if you tried hard enough?”
Comment by Liber Al — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 3:25 am
Is it really that useful to preserve every building that has been in more or less special use? We wouldn’t have a city if we’d cave in for every demand to preserve a building!
Sooner or later the buildings must be demolished because nothing lasts forever. I wouldn’t like to have a preserved building to collapse on people just because it’s too old, all just because a small group of people wanted to preserve it. I’d rather have functional buildings around than some useless buildings that are slowly becoming hazardous.
Though, so far the “functional” buildings have been the Culture house, Kiasma, and now they want to build a music house. I have my doubts of their functionality. With all the spent millions they couldn’t even make the Culture house water proof and it eats money way more than it gives. I’d rather have Nokia build an office building in the place of Kiasma or the Culture house and have the money of the less functional cultural buildings spent on health care or public transportation.
Comment by S.Y — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 5:22 am
Liber Al - My husband, who used to work for the eNpire, once called Sun in California for support and the woman who took his ticket said, and I’ll quote because it was so crass yet so brilliant, “Oh, a Finn who works for Nokia. That’s original.”
And tim73 - you come walk down here asshole
Even the dog was having a hell of a time breathing last night. The air quality has been the absolute pits lately…we all wake up with gunky eyes and clogged noses. The smoke from the bonfire was just a fun bonus. What’s wrong with thinking the city should do something about the situation when breathing is not yet considered a luxury?
Comment by hfb — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 9:21 am
Finnpundit wrote:
“It would be more fitting that the property were sold to Nokia, so that they could build highrise offices right there, to remind all the parliamentarians and the public as to the significance of private corporations within Finnish society.”
I’m all for that idea on condition that the Nokia headquarters in each country will include a small scale working pulp mill to remind the investors of the contribution of the Finns to the success of Nokia.
Comment by Auriga — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 9:27 am
Phil, could you interview some of those prekariaatti-people on Radio Free Finland?
Comment by Dave C. — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 11:38 am
The prekariaatti people were on A-talk the other day
Prekariaatti duo - We want a 600€ “citizens wage” for everyone
Host - Where would that money come from?
Prekariaatti duo - That doesn’t really matter
Comment by Anton — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 12:09 pm
yeah those two were real brainiacs
Comment by Blah — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 12:32 pm
“Prekariaatti duo - We want a 600€ “citizens wage†for everyone
Host - Where would that money come from?
Prekariaatti duo - That doesn’t really matter”
Oh, that was priceless
Especially when Olli Rikala quickly replied that 600€ per person per month sums up to 38 Billion € and the total annual tax income of Finland is only 32 B€. And then the activists added that ofcourse the taxation should remain progressive so that the system would be fair to everyone. Unbelievable.
Comment by Dave C. — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 1:34 pm
And then the activists added that ofcourse the taxation should remain progressive so that the system would be fair to everyone. Unbelievable.
This is what Eero Heinäluoma (Minister of Finance) said, in practically those same words, also emphasising the “fairness” of it.
The idiocy is mind numbing.
Comment by Liber Al — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 1:52 pm
“What’s wrong with thinking the city should do something about the situation when breathing is not yet considered a luxury?” - I think that was the goal of Kyoto….
Phil, Is it ok to offer a reward for information on this one?
“We want a 600€ “citizens wage†for everyone”
- Was that for doing work or as a reward for breathing?
Comment by Fred Fry — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 4:06 pm
Phil, could you interview some of those prekariaatti-people on Radio Free Finland?
Are you talking about those EuroMayDay people? I tried to find the Helsinki planner’s e-mail but couldn’t. Got any contacts for me? I’d love to interview them.
Comment by Phil — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 4:32 pm
Phil, could you interview some of those prekariaatti-people on Radio Free Finland?
Found it. Sent them an interview request. Would love to have them on next Sunday!
Comment by Phil — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 4:58 pm
Phil, Is it ok to offer a reward for information on this one?
Sure. Now would I have wanted the police to semi-secretly take pictures of everyone who has visited those warehouses and post them up on the internet giving out rewards for names? Noooooo.
Comment by Phil — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 4:59 pm
Yes, I guess prekariaatti.org was the finnish organizer of EuroMayDay.
I don’t know who the planner was but maybe you could contact Anna-Reetta Korhonen (the one who was in a-talk and who’s one of key people in prekariaatti.org). It would be great if you could get one of them to the show!
Here’s what google has on her:
Anna-Reetta Korhonen
0503662483
annareetta_korhonen@hotmail.com
Comment by Anonymous — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 5:17 pm
Forgot to refresh page and to add my nick to the previous post. Great.
Hopefully someone has the guts to come to your show! Looking forward to that one
Comment by Dave C. — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 5:24 pm
Helsinki sky looks beautiful, too beautiful to be good for you.
http://blogisisko2.blogspot.com/2006/05/helsinki-vuorokausi-makasiinipalon.html
Comment by Anna Amnell — Sat, May 6th, 2006 @ 9:46 pm
Old wooden buildings are expensive to restore properly. If the State officially pulls them down the result can be bad PR. The best tactic is a “mysterious” fire. Who said there wasn’t corruption in Finland?
Comment by Finnish honesty — Sun, May 7th, 2006 @ 10:33 am
There is corruption, but sometimes it’s not possible to hide:) Most of the times it’s hidden under beautiful interface.
Comment by Belino — Sun, May 7th, 2006 @ 12:56 pm
Finnpundit:
It would be more fitting that the property were sold to Nokia, so that they could build highrise offices right there, to remind all the parliamentarians and the public as to the significance of private corporations within Finnish society.
And now you want to erect a momument to freeriding. I’m more and more confused.
And they’re well reminded, rest assured. Vanhanen was probably apologising for the ‘toons under direct orders from the Nokia BOD.
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Sun, May 7th, 2006 @ 1:25 pm
Comment #49 is the final proof to my weeks old theory of this so-called Finnish honesty being just a provocateur. S/he’s not even imaginative this time. Why didn’t s/he know that it was not only the evil Finnish government burning down the buildings to get rid of them but that it was the evil racist Finnish government burning them down to get rid of documents stored there showing how corrupt they are..? That could now explain everything from the Finnish government’s involvement in the “death” of Elvis to the fact that the so-called astronauts on the Moon were actually filmed in Yle studios…
MM
Comment by Moral minority? — Sun, May 7th, 2006 @ 1:59 pm
Its a well known fact amongst locals in Oulu that fires that burned down old wooden buildings in Oulu were either directly, or indirectly linked to decisions made by the city council. Earlier in the thread someone else referred to this phenomina, so its not just me!
Comment by Finnish honesty — Sun, May 7th, 2006 @ 3:03 pm
Much ado about very little. Whether or not this has been done by “radicals”, it will serve to strengthen conservative, unimaginative voices in the society. It is sometimes quite frustrating how easy it is to hijack the progressive agenda by meaningless direct “action”.
Comment by mjr — Sun, May 7th, 2006 @ 7:53 pm
That could now explain everything from the Finnish government’s involvement in the “death†of Elvis to the fact that the so-called astronauts on the Moon were actually filmed in Yle studios…
You forgot the assassination of JFK.
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Sun, May 7th, 2006 @ 8:13 pm
The people I really feel bad for are the firefighters who are putting their own lives at risk fighting a fire that was set on purpose. And of course the tax payers who will inevitably burden the cost of putting this out + investigating it. Dumb, dumb, dumb. With the outrageous taxes in Finland, every taxpayer should be outraged.
Comment by I think — Mon, May 8th, 2006 @ 4:45 pm
Just send them a postcard:
http://kuv.at/foo/helsinkifinlandpostcard.jpg
Comment by Jani Kuusisto — Mon, May 8th, 2006 @ 10:35 pm
Now that’s a wonderful postcard.
Comment by Finnpundit — Tue, May 9th, 2006 @ 3:34 am
] gang member norte
Comment by http://nixcv.info/land-contract-in-ohio/index.html — Mon, Feb 5th, 2007 @ 2:24 am