Helsinki Deputy Mayor Paavo Arhinmaki is asking for forgiveness after being caught spray-painting graffiti in a railway tunnel. Photo by Markku Ojala/EPA
June 30 (UPI) — Paavo Arhinmäki, the deputy mayor of Helsinki and a former member of parliament, was caught spray-painting graffiti in a train tunnel last weekend.
Arhinmäki has apologized in a post on Facebook but still faces possible legal action and calls for him to resign and pay for the damages.
“I got interested in graffiti as a child, like almost all boys my age in Pasila. After all, Pasila was the cradle of Finnish graffiti, there was a train tunnel where you went to see paintings during recess and after school,” Arhinmäki said.
“Now that there have been licensed graffiti walls in Helsinki for 15 years already, I have been visiting with my old childhood friends to randomly paint on them.”
Arhinmäki said that there are “many” places in the Finnish capital where graffiti is not officially authorized but claimed that it “doesn’t really bother anyone either.”
The politician, somewhat attempting to justify his actions, claimed he and some friends hit the tunnel of a freight train track that has other paintings that are “years old” and is visited by “hardly any freight trains.”
The crew were finished painting and cleaning up their paint cans when they heard guards shouting that “it is not worth trying to escape,” the politician said.
“The guards caught us matter-of-factly. We chatted with them while we waited for the police to come and take down our information,” he said.
“It was really stupid of me and of us. Somehow, I myself have become lulled into the idea that you can make paintings on such gray pre-painted concrete walls, away from people’s eyes. It was stupid of us to think that no one would be interested in us painting in such a place.”
The incident is being investigated by police to see if mainline railway traffic was impacted, Crime Commissioner Markku Lylykangas of the Police of Finland told the Vantaa Sanomat newspaper, while adding that a freight train had been delayed 10 minutes due to people on the track.
The incident is being investigated as an act of vandalism and a disturbance of rail traffic.
Arhinmäki told the Finnish Broadcasting Company, known locally as YLE, that the graffiti is Pasila themed and included the phrase “World domination and great career moves,” which was written in English.
Helsinki Mayor Juhana Vartiainen also told YEL via text message that he has spoken to Arhinmäki who has expressed his regret over the situation.
“The rules are the same for everyone,” Vartiainen said. “I hope people practice art in places designated for this purpose.”
In the Facebook post, Arhinmäki admitted that what he and his friends had done was “silly” and that it was “stupid to paint there when there are allowed walls, too.”
“I’m sorry for this stupid foolishness of mine,” he said. “I’m asking for forgiveness.”