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PROTESTS

Dozens arrested at Norway neo-Nazi demo

Norwegian police on Saturday arrested 35 people after a group of neo-Nazi protesters in Oslo refused to comply with officers' orders.

Published: 30 October 2022 18:12 CET
lion statue in front of the Oslo parliament
A photo taken on September 1, 2021 shows a lion statue in front of the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo, where a neo-Nazi demonstration passed by on Saturday. Photo: Petter BERNTSEN / AFP

The group of between 30 and 40 protesters had not applied for the necessary permits to hold the march in central Oslo, which passed by the country’s parliament, the capital’s police said.

“They did not apply for (permits) and they refused to comply with police orders,” Oslo police tweeted, after the group refused to leave the area.

The police in a later statement said the situation was under control and that officers arrested 35 people.

Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported that left-wing groups had shown up and officers had to physically intervene to keep the two sides apart.

Images from the event showed masked men carrying banners with the symbol of the Nordic Resistance Movement (NMR).

NMR is a group active in Nordic countries and openly describes itself as adhering to National Socialism, another term for Nazism.

The group was banned outright in Finland by the country’s Supreme Court in September 2020.

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OSLO

Norwegian prosecutor wants maximum sentence for Oslo Pride shooter

Norway's public prosecutor on Tuesday asked that the maximum penalty of potentially life behind bars be handed down to the alleged perpetrator of the fatal shooting at Oslo's 2022 Pride festival.

Published: 15 May 2024 09:18 CEST
Norwegian prosecutor wants maximum sentence for Oslo Pride shooter

Zaniar Matapour, a 44-year-old Norwegian of Iranian origin, has been on trial since mid-March and is accused of an “aggravated act of terror”.

Matapour is accused of opening fire outside two bars in central Oslo, including the gay club London Pub, on the night of June 25th, just hours before the Oslo Pride Parade was to be held.

Two men, aged 54 and 60, were killed and nine others were wounded.

“There is no reason as to why the maximum sentence cannot be used in a case like this,” prosecutor Aud Kinsarvik Gravas said.

The maximum sentence is 30 years but can be extended indefinitely.

“He has shown no remorse or reflection. We have seen no change in him” over the last two years, Kinsarvik Gravas said.

Matapour, who was restrained by passersby after the shooting, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and has never revealed his motives. He pleaded not guilty.

Psychiatric experts have been divided over his mental health, and thereby his legal responsibility, but the public prosecutor deemed him criminally responsible at the time of the events and that he deliberately targeted the gay community.

The sentence sought against him, which includes a minimum of 20 years, would in practice keep him in detention for as long as he is deemed a danger to society.

The alleged mastermind behind the attack, Arfan Bhatti, a 46-year-old Islamist well-known in Norway, was extradited on May 3rd from Pakistan, where he had taken up residence before the shooting.

He will be tried at a later date.

The final part of the trial, due to last until Thursday, will be devoted to the defence case.

A verdict is not expected for several weeks.

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