On Thursday, the Finnish cabinet said it had decided to close four out of eight checkpoints on the border with Russia from November 18 to February 18, 2024 due to the deteriorating situation with migrants.
As of 09:55 GMT Saturday, the petition launched on November 16 was signed by 8,848 people, according to the аdressit.com website.
"The government's decision to completely close the border traffic between Finland and Russia contradicts the human rights. I demand that the law be changed because it breaks family ties. Many people have close relatives on both sides of the [Finnish-Russian] border," the petition's description states.
The new border regulations make it difficult for children to see their relatives and for spouses to see each other, according to the petition.
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"Undocumented refugees can be sent from the border to the station where asylum applications are processed," the petition also said.
Earlier this week, Finland accused Russia of directing asylum seekers, mainly from the Middle East, to its border, with the number of asylum requests soaring to 60 a day, compared to a total of 91 refugees arriving from August 1 to November 12.