Hundreds of children panicked in southern Finland on Friday after an online threat that their school would be the next target for a shooting rampage, the school's principal said.
On Wednesday, 18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed six fellow students, the school's principal and its nurse after posting a video on YouTube foreshadowing a massacre in nearby Tuusula. "Sturmgeist89" was Auvinen's YouTube username.
"Yesterday there was a threat on the Internet ... someone posted a note with the username Sturmgeist, saying that the next target would be a Kirkkonummi middle school," Maarit Rossi, principal of Kirkkoharju middle school in Kirkkonummi, said.
"One can imagine how the rumours spread when we have 1,300 pupils in the complex. This did not proceed calmly, there was panic," he told Reuters.
Pupils were allowed to leave the school with parental permission and regular classes were suspended, officials said.
Police said they regarded the threats aimed at Kirkkonummi, about 70 kilometres from Tuusula, as "a bad joke". They are investigating who posted the message on the web.
The police visited Hyryla school in Tuusula on Friday to talk to pupils and their parents after rumours of similar threats against that school.
Gun restrictions
Finland have also decided to toughen its gun policies after the school shooting.
"The cabinet is ready to agree on a proposal which says that those under 18-years-old can use a gun only under parental or adult guidance," cabinet spokesperson Sanna Kangasharju said.
Finland had resisted European Union plans to limit gun ownership to those 18 years or older across the continent, since Finns as young as 15 have had the right to own and use a gun alone.
Last month, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, 18, obtained a licence for the .22 calibre handgun he used in Wednesday's massacre through a gun club. In Internet postings, he referred to the gun as "Catherine".
Finland has the world's third-highest instance of gun ownership per capita. Hunting is a widespread hobby, but deadly shootings are rare. © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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