As many as a thousand asylum seekers are expected to arrive in Finland Friday. The figure from Thursday was 500 people, who came into the country via Tornio in northern Finland.
Emergency housing is being organised for the asylum seekers arriving in the northwest border city of Tornio. Police, customs and border control resources have also been allocated to aid with handling the flow.
A dedicated registration centre is also being established to accommodate the growing number of people arriving in the country.
PM: UN camps needed
Prime Minister Juha Sipilä held a press conference on Friday where he underlined the severity of the refugee crisis.
“I consider our domestic economic problems to be a smaller concern than the migrant crisis at present,” he said. “We must approach the issue seriously.”
Sipilä said that measures to control the flow of refugees and asylum seekers should come from the United Nations.
“Ideally, UN-operated refugee camps should be established in positive conditions. Countries such as Finland could then take on refugees in dire need from these camps, with their official registration and handling having already been taken care of,” the Prime Minister said.
Most from Iraq, only few from Syria
The Ministry of the Interior's Permanent Secretary Päivi Nerg says that some 6,700 Iraqis have arrived in Finland to date, with the next most people originating from the countries of Somalia and Afghanistan. Only 267 of the refugees arriving in Finland so far have said they are from Syria.
