Police report ’abundance’ of violent crimes in the late hours of Friday and early hours of Saturday.

At around midnight, in Kaakuri, a man in twenties tried to hijack a taxi by threatening the driver with a broken bottle. The driver alerted the police and the man was arrested and taken into custody.

Another man in his twenties assaulted a man of a similar age in front of the Onnela night club. He kicked him and punched him in the face leaving him with serious wounds and having to be taken in an ambulance to hospital.

Also at about midnight, a young man was beaten up by a gang hanging around Oulu theatre after he refused to give them some beer.

A thirty year old woman beat up a woman in her twenties – punching and kicking her – in a restaurant in Tyrnava, near Oulu, at about 2.30am. The fight was broken up by the restaurant staff and the victim was hospitalised.

A late teenage man was getting his bike from Kauppurienkatu at about 3am when a middle-aged man came and punched him in the face leaving ‘noticeable injuries.’

Two men in their thirties fought on Hallituskatu at about 3am with one of them sustaining a broken nose and having to see a doctor.

In Yli-Ii a couple in their thirties began fighting leading to both being seriously injured and hospitalised at around midnight.

In Oulu, at 3am, a 40 year-old man beat up his common law wife. Their young children, hearing the shouting, alerted the police.

There were various other assaults reported in the city centre. In front of a Kaukovainio restaurant, two women in their twenties fought until one lost consciousness. Also, in Haukipudas, at about 5am, a man went into a rage in his flat and when police were called he threatened them with a bread knife.