Terrorism in Norway
From bad to worse
Jul 23rd 2011, 13:57 by C.M. | COPENHAGEN
http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2011/07/terrorism-norway
Immediately following the attacks, most commentators focused their suspicions on Islamic terrorism. However, on the morning of July 23rd, the police announced that Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year-old Norwegian right-wing extremist, had been arrested and charged with both crimes. The two attacks were directed with a laser-like focus at both the leadership and grass-roots of the country’s Labour Party, which currently holds power and which ran the Utøya camp for its youth wing. “The paradise of my youth has been turned into a nightmare,” said Jens Stoltenberg, the prime minister, who attended Utøya gatherings as a teenager and was scheduled to address the campers on July 23rd.
The news was particularly surprising because unlike many of its neighbours in northern Europe, Norway’s far right is fragmented and weak, and has no history of radical agitation. Mr Breivik is a former member and youth official of the Progress Party, the most conservative grouping in Norway’s parliament. Siv Jensen, its leader, said she was horrified at having any connection to the alleged gunman. The police are currently investigating reports that there may have been a second gunman at Utøya.
From bad to worse
Jul 23rd 2011, 13:57 by C.M. | COPENHAGEN
http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2011/07/terrorism-norway
Immediately following the attacks, most commentators focused their suspicions on Islamic terrorism. However, on the morning of July 23rd, the police announced that Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year-old Norwegian right-wing extremist, had been arrested and charged with both crimes. The two attacks were directed with a laser-like focus at both the leadership and grass-roots of the country’s Labour Party, which currently holds power and which ran the Utøya camp for its youth wing. “The paradise of my youth has been turned into a nightmare,” said Jens Stoltenberg, the prime minister, who attended Utøya gatherings as a teenager and was scheduled to address the campers on July 23rd.
The news was particularly surprising because unlike many of its neighbours in northern Europe, Norway’s far right is fragmented and weak, and has no history of radical agitation. Mr Breivik is a former member and youth official of the Progress Party, the most conservative grouping in Norway’s parliament. Siv Jensen, its leader, said she was horrified at having any connection to the alleged gunman. The police are currently investigating reports that there may have been a second gunman at Utøya.
