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UPDATE: Area around Norway’s parliament to reopen after threats

Norway's parliament will reopen after it was closed earlier on Wednesday after police received two reports of threats.

Pictured is the Norwegian parliament.
Police received two bomb threats against Norway's parliament in 24 hours. Pictured is the Norwegian parliament. Photo by Ekely GettyImages

Police announced early on Wednesday afternoon that they would begin to reopen the area around Norway’s parliament after threats were received within 24 hours. 

Norwegian media reported bomb threats, but this was not confirmed by police. 

Norway’s parliament was initially closed after local police received reports of a threat at around 10am.

“A bomb threat has been received which is aimed at the Storting,” Gabriel Langfeldt, a senior police officer with the Oslo police, told the Norwegian newspaper VG.

Shortly after 11am, the police cordoned off a larger area surrounding Norway’s parliament, and at 11:30am police confirmed to the press that two threats had been made against parliament.

“The threat does not say very much, but was presented in such a way that we cannot take the chance that it is just nonsense,” another senior police officer told broadcaster TV 2.

Police clarified that both threats were made on Tuesday, but one of the threats wasn’t presented to them until Wednesday morning. 

One of the threats was posted on the anonymous forum 4Chan, while the second was sent as an email, according to reports in the Norwegian media.

Police said they knew who made one of the threats. 

The police didn’t confirm whether the two threats were related. 

Conservative Party leader and former PM Erna Solberg was among several people locked outside of parliament.

Norway’s Minister of Justice, Emilie Enger Mehl, said the threat was ‘unacceptable’.

“It is unpleasant and unacceptable when bomb threats are received against democracy and the Storting,” she told public broadcaster NRK.

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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.

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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