While tens of thousands of Norwegians sang out against confessed terrorist Anders Behring Breivik last week, others were sounding off through online debate in support of Breivik. He killed 77 persons last summer in attacks he claims were motivated by his opposition to immigration.
News bureau NTB reported that Norwegian law student Magnus Forsberg was so fascinated by the contrast between the demonstrators singing at local town squares around the country and those writing angry comments on the Internet that he started collecting some of the online remarks.
Forsberg found one that claimed “Breivik loved his country so much that he was willing to kill 77 people to wake us up.” Another wrote that “Politicians in Norway kill more than Breivik.”
Concerns are growing about right-wing extremists in Norway and elsewhere in Europe who vent their views in online debate. Several right-wing organizations, however, have distanced themselves from Breivik and claimed they never had contact with him.
One of Breivik’s defense attorneys, Tord Jordet, told newspaper Dagbladet over the weekend, however, that Breivik has been communicating from prison with some Russians who claim to have set up a network of persons who support him. Jordet said neither he nor his colleagues know anything about the alleged network, except that its members are working to translate Breivik’s so-called manifesto into Russian.
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