AFP - Tensions mounted in a Finnish stevedores' walkout that has crippled the country's foreign trade for two weeks as strikers tried to block non-union workers from resuming operations at a port Thursday.

"There was some damage to cars and people were pushed around, but serious injuries were avoided," Kimmo Naski, managing director of the Port of Kotka in eastern Finland told AFP.

Around 100-150 demonstrators gathered at Finland's second largest port to protest port operator Multi-Link Terminals Ltd.'s decision to restart work, replacing striking staff with foremen, subcontractors and former dock workers.

"We will continue (working at the port) at least tomorrow. The weekend is still open and we will see about next week depending on how negotiations proceed," Multi-Link managing director Dirk van Assendelft told AFP.

It was crucial to get containers moving again to avoid "chaos" once the strike ends as ports elsewhere in Europe were brimming with freight destined for Finland and for transit through the Nordic country to Russia, he said.

"This is very condescending action as the strike is legal and people are fighting justly for their rights," Hilkka Ahde, a spokeswoman for the transport workers union AKT told AFP.

Finland's commercial ports ground to a virtual halt on March 4 when some 3,000 stevedores walked out following the collapse of collective labour deal negotiations.

Talks continued Thursday, but it remained unclear when the strike would end.

Around 80 percent of Finland's foreign trade travels through its ports, and the strike is seen as a blow to the export-reliant country, which is scrambling to return to growth after being hit hard by the global economic downturn.

At the centre of the labour dispute is disagreement over redundancy terms, and talks mediated by the national conciliator were this week broadened to involve umbrella worker and employee organisations.