Oodi Director: "There are needles and blood traces; intoxicated people are removed almost daily"

On Sunday afternoon, a violent incident occurred in the downstairs toilets of the Helsinki Central Library (Oodi), where one person was stabbed during a robbery.

The Helsinki Police Department reported on Tuesday 18 February that two suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident, which is being investigated as a case of aggravated robbery.

According to MTV Uutiset, the Director of the Helsinki Central Library, Oodi, Anna-Maria Soininvaara, said she is not surprised about the incident.

"When this Oodi was originally designed, the risks involved in placing such an open and large public building in the heart of the city, where the drug trade is familiar, were also known," commented Soininvaara.

Needles and bloody traces found almost daily

Soininvaara also explained that drug users use the toilet facilities. "Unfortunately, there is more and more drug use here. There are more and more needles, and this is worrying. There are needles, bloody traces and other nasty things almost every day. Almost daily intoxicated persons are removed from the library".

Soininvaara said that another surprise is how surprisingly peaceful the library has been since it opened its doors for the first time. "We had 3.7 million visitors and this was the first serious incident".

More surveillance cameras

Yle informed on Monday that the director of the library Oodi, Anna-Maria Soininvaara, also commented that the library is planning to install more surveillance cameras to facilitate the work of security guards. Soininvaara also pointed that guards had already suggested that idea before the incident.

The director of the library also told Yle that the representatives of Oodi had a meeting with its security provider on Monday to discuss the new terms of the contract, but the meeting was already scheduled before the incident occurred on Sunday.