The president of the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) has asked the City of Oslo to finally close the two streets running adjacent to the historic building. The formal request comes nearly two years after a terrorist was able to drive right up to government ministry buildings a few blocks away and set off a bomb that caused massive damage and killed eight persons.
Vehicular traffic along Akersgata and Karl Johans Gate, the streets that run right next to the parliament, has nonetheless been allowed to continue. Now a new risk analysis conducted by the Oslo Police, the police intelligence unit PST, the National Security Agency and the defense department confirms the danger of that. Officials at the parliament thus want Akersgata to be blocked to ordinary traffic from Prinsens gate to Karl Johans Gate, and around the corner of Karl Johans.
“We want these streets closed, and we want it to happen quickly,” Dag Terje Andersen, the president of the parliament, told newspaper Aftenposten. Asked why the pending closure has taken so long, Andersen it was only now that the parliament has received “clear, professional advice.” He said the parliament wanted the closure to be based on “comprehensive analysis of security measures.”
newsinenglish.no staff
