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Woman injured in Oslo mass brawl: report

Up to 30 men were involved in a fight on in central Oslo on Tuesday night, police have confirmed.

Published: 27 June 2018 16:13 CEST

Woman injured in Oslo mass brawl: report

A file photo of Youngstorget in Oslo. Photo: Audun Braastad / NTB scanpix

The brawl took place at the Youngstorget square in the Norwegian capital and a machete and other weapons may have been used in the fight, VG reports.

Around 30 people thought be in their twenties and thirties are reported to have attacked each other with various objects.

“We received the first report at around five minutes before 1am of a so-called mass brawl. There was a large group of men described as men with African backgrounds reported to be fighting. A machete was mentioned but we have not found that so far. Most appear to have used iron rods, wooden planks and bottles,” police response leader Tor Jøkling told VG.

Jøkling added that people involved in the fight dispersed in all directions when police arrived at the scene but three individuals have so far been apprehended.

Shortly after, police were informed of an injured woman at a bar in nearby Torggata.

The woman was reported to be bleeding and close to fainting.

“We have received confirmation that there was a guest at a nightclub who was inadvertently hit in the head by an object that was thrown. An ambulance is seeing to her and she is in good care. We are treating this as related to the fight and are working on finding those responsible for this,” Jøkling told VG.

Police are currently looking for witnesses and persons who may have been involved in the incident.

“We must stress that there were so many people involved that it is a challenge for our patrols to get an immediate overview,” Jøkling continued.

Three people had however been detained in connection with the incident by 2:21 am, police said, and Jøkling later confirmed that one of these was a primary suspect in relation to the incident.

READ ALSO: Police search for gunman after shots fired at bar in Oslo

Norwegian police charge Olympic champion's father for domestic violence

Jakob Ingebrigtsen and two of his brothers, Henrik and Filip, who are also athletes, shocked Norway last October when they accused their father of being violent.

“We grew up with a very aggressive and authoritarian father, who used physical violence and threats as part of his upbringing,” the brothers wrote in an op-ed for newspaper VG. “We still feel a sense of discomfort and fear that we have felt since childhood,” they added.

Police opened a probe into the abuse claims and on Monday said prosecutors had decided to charge Gjert Ingebrigtsen, 58, with domestic violence against one of his children.

According to a source close to the case, the acts in question do not concern the trio of known athletes but another, younger child.

Over a period of four years, from 2018 to 2022, Gjert Ingebrigtsen allegedly manhandled, insulted, threatened and hit the child in the face with his hand or with a towel.

Responding to questions from AFP, Therese Braut Vage, who led the investigation, would not confirm this account.

Police said they had closed investigations into other events concerning the six other children in the home either due to a lack of evidence or, in one case, because the statute of limitations having expired.

Gjert, who coached Jakob until after the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo — where Jakob won the gold — has always denied the accusations against him.

“As far as the dismissed cases, we agree that there is no evidence to prove that Ingebrigtsen committed any wrongdoing,” his lawyer John Christian Elden told AFP on Monday.

“For the rest, Ingebrigtsen disputes the description of the facts on which the indictment is based — and he therefore does not admit his guilt,” he continued in an email.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen is the most successful of the three brothers, twice winning gold in the world championships 5000m in 2022 and 2023, as well as the Olympic 1500m gold.

The 23-year-old is also preparing for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

Henrik, 33, and Filip, 31, were European champions in the 1500m in 2012 and 2016 respectively.

After breaking with his sons, Gjert Ingebrigtsen shocked Norwegian athletics by becoming the trainer of another runner, Narve Gilje Nordas.

The Norwegian Olympic Committee has said that Gjert will not be granted accreditation for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, as was the case at last year’s World Athletics Championships.

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