The march has been criticized in foreign media as a
neo-Nazi "SS march" because the event ends at the Hietaniemi cemetery where participants visit the monument to the
Finnish SS Battalion and the tomb of
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. The demonstration is also opposed by the yearly antifascist "Helsinki Without Nazis" event.
SUPO has characterized the march as "far-right" and "anti-immigrant". The participants have allegedly given Nazi salutes and attacked the counterdemonstrators. According to literature professor Kuisma Korhonen of University of Jyväskylä, the torches symbolize "eternal Finnishness" and are reminiscent of a Ku Klux Klan rally. The march is attended and promoted by the Finns Party while it is condemned by left-wing parties.
Iiris Suomela of the
Green League characterized it as "obviously neo-Nazi" and expressed her disappointment in it being attended by such a large number of people. In 2024, two members of the Finnish parliament,
Teemu Keskisarja and
Sheikki Laakso, stated they planned to participate in the march rather than the traditional gala at the
Presidential Palace. The Finns Party leader,
Riika Purra, defended their plans on the basis of freedom of assembly and speech, although she clarified that her party did not condone the far-right.
Petteri Orpo, while noting he did not have the authority as prime minister to tell people where they "should go and not go", denounced their decision to attend as "inappropriate and wrong." ==Speakers==