Norway Mourns Its Dead as Harsh Rhetoric Spreads
The confession by Anders Behring Breivik, made via his lawyer with and preceded by a 1,500-page, xenophobic screed he published online before the massacre, has shocked this small Scandinavian country and unnerved governments across Europe, where far-right parties espousing anti-Muslim views, if not violence, have recently been on the rise.
The attacks, including the bombing of a government building in Oslo and a shooting spree at a Labor Party youth camp on a nearby island, left at least 93 people dead in what authorities described as a deranged attempt to declare war on the forces of multiculturalism and pluralism that have taken hold in Norway and much of Europe. Mr. Breivik’s manifesto against the “Islamization of Western Europe” echoed sentiment that has found a renewed voice on the fringes of mainstream politics from Sweden to Italy. Populist politicians have won votes and influence by arguing that Europe is letting in too many people, especially Muslims who they say don’t accept Western values and who, according to these politicians, cause crime and unemployment. The view that fueled Mr. Breivik’s extremism “is a sentiment you find in all European countries,” said Thomas Hegghammer, a senior research fellow at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment in Oslo. Norway, a relatively wealthy, sparsely populated country, has little recent history of political extremism, much less terrorism. Beautiful wedding gowns That it was the site of such an attack, even if by an isolated gunman, has unleashed concern across Europe that the anti-immigrant underswell that has swept much of the Continent in recent years could metastasize suddenly and unexpectedly into violence. As flags across the city hung at half-staff, hundreds of people flocked in the rain Sunday to Oslo Cathedral, where Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, King Harald of Norway and other leaders attended a memorial service. Outside, many onlookers openly wept and milled about for hours as they contributed to a growing carpet of flowers and candles.
Norway’s ruling center-left Labor Party, which has long championed immigration and multiculturalism, appeared to be the primary target of the attack. Police said at least 86 people, many of them teenagers, New style princess sleeveless were killed in the Friday-afternoon shooting at a summer camp for the youth wing of the Labor Party. About 600 people were present at the time of the attack, which occurred on the island of Utoya north of Oslo. The rampage followed the bombing of government offices in the Norwegian capital that killed at least seven. The mass shooting on the island went on for more than an hour before a SWAT team arrived. Police were continuing to search for victims and said the death toll could rise when several people missing on the island are accounted for. A police spokesman said Mr. Breivik with.
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