It has been 10 years since Norway’s worst ever peacetime tragedy. Events were held all over the country on Thursday as people mourn the lost. The Associated Press has the story:
Killing for political objectives, the perpetrator slaughtered the innocent
OSLO, Norway (AP) — Church bells rang out across Norway on Thursday, marking 10 years since the country’s worst ever peacetime slaughter as commemoration ceremonies took place throughout the day.
Floral tributes lay outside Oslo Cathedral, on the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attack by Anders Breivik, in Oslo, Thursday, July 22, 2021. Commemorations were held marking the 10-year anniversary of Norway’s worst ever peacetime slaughter. On July 22, 2011, rightwing terrorist Anders Breivik set of a bomb in the capital, Oslo, killing eight people, before heading to tiny Utoya island where he stalked and shot dead 69 mostly teen members of the Labor Party youth wing. (Beate Oma Dahle/NTB scanpix via AP)
On July 22, 2011, right wing extremist Anders Breivik set off a bomb in the capital, Oslo, killing eight people, before heading to tiny Utoya island where he stalked and shot dead 69 mostly teen members of the Labor Party’s youth wing.
Events were held around the country, including a service in Oslo Cathedral that ended with the first peal of bells. Thousands of people gathered in the streets outside to mourn the 77 victims.
FILE – In this July 24, 2011 file photo, women react in Oslo at the end of a memorial service at Oslo Cathedral in the aftermath of the attacks on Norway’s government headquarters and a youth retreat. At 3.25 p.m. on July 22, 2021, a ray of sun should have illuminated the first of 77 bronze columns on a lick of land opposite Utoya island outside Oslo. Over the next 3 hours and 8 minutes, it would have brushed each column in turn, commemorating every person killed by right-wing terrorist Anders Breivik. But on the ten-year anniversary of the terror, the memorial remains a construction site. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)
Arriving on crutches, 84-year-old King Harald took his seat for the service beside Queen Sonja at the front of Oslo Cathedral as the country observed a minute’s silence.
Speaking in front of 77 roses arranged into the shape of a heart, Jens Stoltenberg, Norway’s prime minister at the time of the attacks in 2011, told the congregation that “10 years ago we met hatred with love, but the hatred is still there.”
FILE – In this Sunday, July 24, 2011 file photo, a female lights a candle at a makeshift memorial to victims of the bombing and shooting attacks, opposite Utoya island, Norway. At 3.25 p.m. on July 22, 2021, a ray of sun should have illuminated the first of 77 bronze columns on a lick of land opposite Utoya island outside Oslo. Over the next 3 hours and 8 minutes, it would have brushed each column in turn, commemorating every person killed by right-wing terrorist Anders Breivik. But on the ten-year anniversary of the terror, the memorial remains a construction site. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
Stoltenberg, currently NATO Secretary General, said Breivik was “one of us.”
“The perpetrator was a right-wing extremist. He misused Christian symbols. He grew up in our streets, belonged to the same religion and had the same skin color as the majority in this country. He was one of us,” Stoltenberg said.
“But he is not one of us, who respects democracy. He is one of those who believe they have the right to kill for their political objectives.”
Around the country, people listened as emotional survivors read aloud the names of the 77 victims at a televised memorial event.
FILE – In this July 22, 2019 file photo, Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg, center, and leader of the Labour party Jonas Gahr Stoere, left, attend a memorial ceremony to mark the 8th anniversary of the shootings on Utoya Island, where sixty nine people were killed by Anders Breivik. At 3.25 p.m. on July 22, 2021, a ray of sun should have illuminated the first of 77 bronze columns on a lick of land opposite Utoya island outside Oslo. Over the next 3 hours and 8 minutes, it would have brushed each column in turn, commemorating every person killed by right-wing terrorist Anders Breivik. But on the ten-year anniversary of the terror, the memorial remains a construction site. (Terje Bendiksby/NTB Scanpix via AP, File)
Some parents of the victims reflected on the way the country coped with the slaughter, and said that “time does not heal all wounds.”
“(The victims) would be proud of how we reacted after the terror and how the rule of law stood strong,” said Lisbeth Kristine Roeyneland, whose daughter Synne was murdered by Breivik. Roeyneland now runs the national support group for victims and families.
“What would those who were so brutally and unfairly killed think of us now 10 years later? I think they would be sad to know that there still are survivors and bereaved with great needs,” Roeyneland said.
People sit during the memorial service at Oslo Cathedral, on the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attack by Anders Breivik, in Oslo, Thursday, July 22, 2021. Commemorations were held marking the 10-year anniversary of Norway’s worst ever peacetime slaughter. On July 22, 2011, rightwing terrorist Anders Breivik set of a bomb in the capital, Oslo, killing eight people, before heading to tiny Utoya island where he stalked and shot dead 69 mostly teen members of the Labor Party youth wing. (Torstein Bøe/NTB scanpix via AP)
“I think they would be disappointed in seeing the public debate in many ways has moved in the wrong direction,” she added. “I also think they would be proud of us. Proud of how we reacted in the days after the terrorist attack and how our state under the rule of law firmly stood its ground in the face of brutality.”
Astrid Hoem, a survivor from Utoya who now leads the AUF, the youth wing of the center-left Labor Party, said “we have not stopped the hatred” and urged Norway to continue facing up to the racism in the country.
Norway’s Queen Sonja, centre, attends a memorial service marking the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attack by Anders Breivik, in Oslo Cathedral, Oslo, Thursday, July 22, 2021. Commemorations will be held marking the 10-year anniversary of Norway’s worst ever peacetime slaughter. On July 22, 2011, rightwing terrorist Anders Breivik set of a bomb in the capital, Oslo, killing eight people, before heading to tiny Utoya island where he stalked and shot dead 69 mostly teen members of the Labor Party youth wing. (Torstein Bøe /NTB scanpix via AP)
“It is so brutal that it can be difficult to fathom,” Hoem said. “But it’s our responsibility to do so. Because 10 years on, we must speak the truth. We haven’t stopped the hatred. Far-right extremism is still alive. The terrorist was one of us.”
She was speaking to a group of mourners, including Crown Prince Haakon, Prime Minister Erna Solberg, survivors and families of the victims.
Leader of AUF youth political league in Norway, Astrid Hoem, Prime Minister of Sweden Stefan Lofven and leader of the Norwegian Labor Party Jonas Gahr Store, lay flower tributes at the memorial on Utoya island Wednesday July 21, 2021, the day before the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack. The memorial to the attack victims, remains a construction site beset by changing plans, delays and court interventions, on the 10th anniversary of the July 22 attack that left 77 people dead on Utoya in Norway. (Beate Oma Dahle / NTB via AP)
Solberg said it hurt to think back “on that dark July day” and added: “We must not leave hate unchallenged.”
“The terror attack on the 22nd of July was an attack on our democracy,” Solberg, Norway’s prime minister since 2013, said. “It was a politically motivated terrorist act towards the Labor Party, AUF and their ideas. But it wasn’t just an attack on a political movement. A whole nation was struck. But we rose again. But Norway was changed by an experience which still causes pain.”
NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg delivers his speech during the memorial service at Oslo Cathedral, on the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attack by Anders Breivik, in Oslo, Thursday, July 22, 2021. Commemorations were held marking the 10-year anniversary of Norway’s worst ever peacetime slaughter. On July 22, 2011, rightwing terrorist Anders Breivik set of a bomb in the capital, Oslo, killing eight people, before heading to tiny Utoya island where he stalked and shot dead 69 mostly teen members of the Labor Party youth wing. (Torstein Bøe/NTB scanpix via AP)
King Harald was expected to speak during a commemoration in Oslo later Thursday. He was to be joined by past and present prime ministers and leaders of the Labor Party youth wing. Events will also take place on Utoya.
