Finland

The Border Guard is a paramilitary unit with limited police powers which controls Finland's borders and provides a certain amount of militarised support to the police.  Their helicopters are sometimes present at demonstrations and they have been known to have had a presence on the ground.

In the past, the Finnish police controlled demonstrations through sheer strength of numbers, surrounding protesters.  Lately they tend to stay back but are more aggressive if they do decide to interfere.  In December 2015, they used the FN-303 – a semi-automatic ‘less lethal’ riot gun – against counter-demonstrators protesting a torchlit procession by the far-right 612 movement on Independence Day, leading to a fragment of pellet becoming lodged in a man’s eye.  The FN-303 has also been used against anti-nuclear activists.