NORWAY: Grieving Norwegians scatter flowers around Oslo city centre four days after the gun and bomb attacks that killed 76 people

Record ID: 529717

  • Title: NORWAY: Grieving Norwegians scatter flowers around Oslo city centre four days after the gun and bomb attacks that killed 76 people
  • Date: 27th July 2011
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPERS
  • Embargoed: 11th August 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Norway, Norway
  • Country: Norway
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVADFPIFVPVE8DSTZD5HUIEQWFPE
  • Story Text: Flowers were all around central Oslo on Tuesday (July 26) as Norwegians struggled to comprehend the scale of Friday's bomb blast and shooting spree in which 76 people died.
    Police on Monday (July 25) reduced the security presence in the capital and pulled back barriers surrounding the bomb site.
    Replacing the military personnel, were roses and other flowers hanging on statues, fences, traffic lights, outside restaurants and parliament after Monday night's rally against violence, attended by least 100,000 people.
    Oslo resident Arno Rasmussen has been stopping by the memorial site outside the cathedral on his way to work every day.
    "Yeah, well it's really difficult to put words on it. It's so terrible; it's so difficult to understand. It's not really hit me; really it's sort of a vague distant thing. It's not the thing you easily understand," he said.
    A Norwegian court on Monday detained self-confessed gunman Anders Behring Breivik for eight weeks during the police investigation into the attacks.
    The court agreed to keep Breivik in solitary confinement, with a ban on letters, access to media and visitors. He would be held in the strictest isolation for at least four weeks.
    "I don't think there really is a punishment that matches the cruelty and evil of this man. We have the laws, we have the regime for this and it's up to the courts to really decide his punishment," Rasmussen said.
    Newspaper headlines on Tuesday (July 26) focused on the unity of the people in the aftermath of the attacks.
    Icelandic tourist Jonas Birgir Jonasson immediately visited the bomb site and walked around the city centre upon his arrival on early Tuesday.
    "It's been really strange seeing all these people around with the flowers. I don't think I have every seen so many flowers in one place before. Yeah, it's pretty sad," he said.
    Police believe Breivik probably acted alone.
    They were expected to begin announcing the names of his victims on Tuesday.
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