Oslo was shocked today, Friday afternoon local time, by an explosion outside the Prime minister’s office in the middle of the “government quarter” as we call it. 2 buildings were on fire and windows were shattered in about a kilometer’s radius from the site. Several people were obviously injured and reports of deaths now seem to agree on 7 people killed.
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Some time later, there were reports of shootings at the annual Labour youth organisation’s summer camp. A man dressed in police uniform fired at the young participants with a sub-machine gun. He is reported to have aimed at the kids swimming from the island in terror. 9 or 10 people were killed in this incident.
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While there have been comments made on Internet fora related to Al-Qaida that “Norway deserve this for their ridicule of the prophet” and “you were warned” police claim they have reason to believe the man responsible for the shooting (who was apprehended) was also involved in the bombing in Oslo. The man was reported by witnesses to be 1,90 and blond, although this has not been confirmed.
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I’m appalled. This is horrible, and while I am grateful it appears no one I directly know were physically affected, I am truly sad for those that were, and their relatives.
And I am also horrified over the first knee-jerk reactions by some people, claiming “it must be a foreigner, because any Norwegian would have known most people have left the office by that hour”. It was perhaps a natural conclusion to make at first, that some Muslim extremist group has blown something up again. As part of NATO Norway does have forces in Afghanistan, we have a free press that didn’t hold back from printing drawings of the prophet of Islam, and we harbor a person who is, according to the US at least, a known terrorist leader.
At the same time, even before I heard of the shootings, something else struck me. In the middle of the infamous “fellesferie” where most people are off work, on a rainy Friday afternoon - and outside this government building, where not all that many pedestrians go. It might as well be an “Oklahoma city” incident. There are, evident by newspaper discussion boards, several individuals who believe the current government parties are traitors to their country. Such a person might well decide to target the government and not random civilians. And shooting kids at a summer camp belonging to one specific party, where a former prime minister was scheduled to talk? Seems highly deranged and political to me.
My bottom line, I guess, is this - I don’t care what skin colour, ethnicity or religion the person(s) responsible have. Such people are responsible as individuals, and I am just as unlikely to blame random dark-skinned Muslim people as I am to blame blond, tall Christian or atheist people.
Also, I hope the defense lawyer(s) for the person(s) responsible does a piss poor job.
