NORWAY: Shocked people look to the future one week after shooting spree and bomb blast in which 76 people were killed

Record ID: 530145

  • Title: NORWAY: Shocked people look to the future one week after shooting spree and bomb blast in which 76 people were killed
  • Date: 30th July 2011
  • Summary: OSLO, NORWAY (JULY 29, 2011) (REUTERS) OSLO CATHEDRAL/ MEMORIAL SITE FLOWER MAN LOOKING AT MEMORIAL SITE PEOPLE AT MEMORIAL SITE FLOWERS AND FLAGS EXTERIOR OF PARLIAMENT BUILDING FLAGS AND FLOWERS ON STATUE PEOPLE WALKING IN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALEX SOLOE FROM OSLO SAYING: "I think they will tear down the building and they have constituted this c
  • Embargoed: 14th August 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Norway, Norway, American Samoa
  • City:
  • Country: Norway American Samoa
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA9XI9XXYPYHWEVCQEDPAJN3BIC
  • Story Text: Outside Oslo's cathedral lies a sea of flowers, laid by mourners to remember the violent attack that hit the capital last Friday (July 22).
    It has been one week since Anders Behring Breivik set off a car-bomb made of fertilisers, in the city centre, killing eight people.
    Later, Breivik went to nearby Utoeya Island where the country's ruling Labour Party youth camp was having its annual meeting. Breivik, a self-confessed anti-Muslim extremist, went on a shooting spree and killed 68 people.
    Norway has promised a review of the country's security services and their actions during Breivik's attacks. Police have come under criticism, including from some survivors, for taking an hour to get to the island 42 km (28 miles) from Oslo.
    The violent attacks are the worst since World War Two.
    One week on, Norwegians are slowly coming to terms with the events, reflecting on what they might mean for the future.
    Oslo resident Alex Soloie says he thinks there will be changes.
    "I think they will tear down the building, and they have constituted this commission for the 22nd of July commission, so they will make some changes for the police authorities, their procedures. So, I don't know, I don't know. I think everybody is going to think twice before they send their kids off on summer camp again. Unfortunately," said Oslo resident Alex Soloe.
    Many are defiant, vowing to restore Norway's peaceful atmosphere and laid-back culture.
    "I don't think there will be any long term effect actually. This is something that tragically happens and there isn't much we can do about such a single event. And in the long run I don't think it changes anything in Norway, I really hope not," said Oslo resident Hans Christian Amlie.
    Breivik has admitted last Friday's shootings and bomb blast.
    After three months of laboriously pounding and mixing fertiliser, aspirin and other chemicals on a remote farm, Breivik drove a hire car packed with the results to the centre of Oslo, triggering the device outside government offices, killing eight and shattering thousands of windows.
    He then drove to the small island of Utoeya, 45 km (28 miles) away. Dressed as a policeman, he calmly shot down youngsters at a youth summer camp of the ruling Labour Party.
    His terrified victims tried to hide under beds or in the woods and some leapt into the lake and tried to swim to the mainland.
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