Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

BREIVIK

PM speaks at party’s first post-terror youth camp

PICTURES - The Norwegian prime minister has addressed Labour Party youth at their first summer camp since the terror attacks by Anders Behring Breivik two years ago, in which 69 young party members were murdered.

Published: 5 July 2013 12:42 CEST
PM speaks at party's first post-terror youth camp
Labour Party youth wing (AUF) members at the first summer camp after the July 22nd, 2011 terror attacks. Photo: Scanpix

Walking on stage wearing a leisurely check shirt and sunglasses, Stoltenberg was met by rapturous applause by the young party members. He arrived at the camp as musician Renate Tårnes sang and played her guitar. Tårnes also performed at the last summer camp on Utoya island, where homegrown extreme-right terrorist Behring Breivik devastated the peaceful summer camp – an annual staple for the Labour Party's youth wing (AUF).

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS FROM NORWAY'S FIRST POST-TERROR LABOUR PARTY YOUTH CAMP.

AUF leader Eskil Pedersen welcomed Stoltenberg onto the stage by calling him "the best prime minister in the world".

"We are stronger than ever," a visibly touched  Stoltenberg said. "Two years ago, the world saw the awful face of terrorism, but they also saw something else. "They saw an AUF that did not abandon its ideals, they saw AUF stick up for their ideals. You should be proud of this today."

"One ideal is the desire for a just society, a just world," Stoltenberg said, before addressing child poverty in the world. The prime minister did also, however, retain a note of humour in his address.
 
"Eskil told me there has been a lot of flirting, and new romances. That doesn't worry me, I don't mind flirting, but I do wonder why Eskil is in the room with the new couples," Stoltenberg joked.

While the atmosphere was joyous, the memories of the attacks two years ago were on the leadership's mind. "We want to focus on politics, but we keep in mind that many are thinking of and comparing it to Utøya," Pedersen told the Aftenposten newspaper.

READ ALSO: Utoya survivor: "It's important to regain normality"

Stoltenberg's address set the tone for the rest of the weekend, with several heavy-weight ministers set to meet the young party members. On Saturday, the camp-goers will discuss the labour market after meeting with Enterprise Minister Anniken Huitfeldt and Trade Union Confederation (LO) leader Gerd Kristiansen. Culture Minister Hadia Tajik and Justice Minister Grete Faremo are also on the list of high-profile ministers set to address the almost 1,000 young people at the summer camp near Oslo.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

BREIVIK

Norway mosque shooter ‘has admitted the facts’: Police

A Norwegian man suspected of killing his step sister and opening fire in a mosque near Oslo last weekend, has admitted to the crimes though he has not officially entered a plea, police said on Friday.

Published: 17 August 2019 09:46 CEST
Norway mosque shooter 'has admitted the facts': Police
Philip Manshaus appears in court on August 12. Photo: Cornelius Poppe / NTB Scanpix / AFP
Philip Manshaus, 21, was remanded in custody Monday, suspected of murder and a “terrorist act” that police say he filmed himself committing.
   
Answering police questions on Friday, “the suspect admits the facts but has not taken a formal position as to the charges,” Oslo police official Pal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby said in a statement.
   
Manshaus is suspected of murdering his 17-year-old step sister Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen, before entering the Al-Noor mosque in an affluent Oslo suburb and opening fire before he was overpowered by a 65-year-old man.
   
Just three worshippers were in the mosque at the time, and there were no serious injuries.
   
Manshaus appeared in court this week with two black eyes and scrapes and bruises to his face, neck and hands.
   
Police have said he has “extreme right views” and “xenophobic positions” and that he had filmed the mosque attack with a camera mounted on a helmet. He had initially denied the accusations.
   
The incident came amid a rise in white supremacy attacks around the world, including the recent El Paso massacre in the United States.
   
Norway witnessed one of the worst-ever attacks by a rightwing extremist in July 2011, when Anders Behring Breivik, who said he feared a “Muslim invasion”, killed 77 people in a truck bomb blast near government offices in Oslo and a shooting spree at a Labour Party youth camp on the island of Utøya.