#it's just not gangs of youth in the centre of the capitol

[socialpants]

Amma elaborate for those asking why and how and wtf: - The pictures are indeed of central Helsinki, capital of Finland (as per the photographer 10am on a Saturday) - the time is a big factor here as 10am on a Saturday is prime time for people sleeping late and/or curing their hangover. Before 10am on a weekend is a good time to take a morning walk if you want to experience both peace and quiet, but also do that in an urban setting. Most of Finland still runs on a 5 days on-2 days off schedule, with busy hours hitting around 6-9am and 3-5pm on weekdays, and 11am to 5pm, then 8pm to 1am on weekends. (there are 24/7 grocery stores but we're not really a 24/7 culture). Holidays and events make slight exceptions. - there's little over 5 million people in the entire country. 1 million of those in the combined area of 3 major cities; Helsinki-Espoo-Vantaa. There's going to be... space. - "Whatabout the homeless and the gangs?!" There are, as of 2023, about 3,5K homeless people in the entire country. That number encompasses people who technically have a place to stay but don't have a permanent address (so they're not sleeping rough outside), people living with their relatives and friends, or in a temporary emergency housing, or in a trailer encampment. If you find yourself in a situation where you truly have no friend or a relative or a permanent safe housing, usually the city will provide for you a place within a few days if not immediately. It's fairly difficult to find yourself without any housing options, though those state provided options don't come entirely without strings attached. Gangs? Rumour has it there are gangs. But the place where the picture is taken is not one of their hang out spots. You rarely see gang activity in daylight, nor in the middle of Helsinki. Some people would like to think they consistently see gang activity in the location of the left image (the central rail way station), but in reality that's mostly where teens and young adults like to meet up, it's a traffic hub for the trains, the subway, buses, trams, and taxis, and the "gang" activity you see that's legitimately connected to crime is most often older Finns with substance abuse issues getting together in the bushes outside the place. In the Summer. So the criminal activity of the place drops drastically for the other 3 seasons. - And it's just like people like their homes, it's cold outside, and commercial stuff has certain opening hours so there's legitimately very little reason to just hang out in the main public spaces if nothing is open and it's not Summer.

This may be an urban legend and I will preface this by saying that I don't even remember where I heard it, but going to bigger cities in Finland always reminds me of it nonetheless, so I'm telling you now.

There was a student group from either China or Korea - I can't recall which one, but Asian nonetheless - who were in student exchange to Finland, in Helsinki. The finnish hosts did their best to make them feel welcome, touring them around the city on the first day out and about, but they noticed the asian students seeming uneased by something. Not in a way of just being timid about being in a foreign country, but glancing at each other like something was off, and looking at each other with this air of "you're seeing it too, right?" but none of them wanted to be the first to bring it up to their finnish hosts. Both cultures are the high-context type, so they had clearly concluded that since the finns didn't point out the obvious unpromptedly, the subject might be too sensitive to talk about.

Eventually one of the exchange students decided to brave against this potential taboo, and delicately asked: "has something... Happened here?" And there was mutual surprise when the finns had no clue what they were talking about. This was pre-covid, nothing bad had happened there. And one of the exchange students - who still weren't sure whether they're breaching a taboo of something One Does Not Talk About - bravely elaborated. The streets are empty. It's eerie. They're in the central of the capital city and the streets are almost deserted. Has there been some calamity? A plague, an earthquake, have the people fled or been evacuated somewhere? Is it safe to even be here?

And they were just as baffled when the finnish hosts confirmed that no, this is a normal amount of people to see on the street on a normal day. Finland just looks like this. And for the sake of clarity, this is what Helsinki city centre looks like on a normal saturday morning at 10 am:

Both pictures taken by me, this morning.