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Saturday, October 5, 2024

Survivors opposed to putting terror remnants on display

Plans to display some of the remnants of a lone gunman’s attack on the Norwegian government on July 22, 2011 have sparked protests from survivors and families of his deadly rampage. One man who lost his wife in the attacks on the government complex in Oslo told state broadcaster NRK that he thinks it will only give the gunman the attention he craved.

“I have a feeing that he’ll get his little ‘hall of fame’ with this exhibit,” Tor Østbo told NRK. “I, and I think many others in my situation, just want him to be forgotten, that he should just sit where he is (in a high-security prison unit) and not get any attention.”

Newspaper Aftenposten reported Tuesday that an exhibit opening later this month, on the fourth anniversary of the attacks, will feature the remains of the van that Anders Behring Breivik drove up to the front entrance of the building that housed the Office of the Prime Minister and the Justice Ministry. It was laden with explosives that killed eight people and all but destroyed the building and those nearby that housed various other government ministries.

Several mobile telephones held by victims of Breivik’s subsequent massacre on the island of Utøya, where the ruling Labour Party was holding a youth summer camp, are also due to go on display.

Tor Einar Fagerland, the man responsible for mounting the exhibit, said he understands the opposition to the exhibit but feels it’s important for Norway’s democracy. “No matter how much we want to forget Breivik, knowledge and openness around his gruesome acts give oxygen to our democracy,” Fagerland told NRK. “It’s important to have a place to document the attacks, both for society and for future generations.”

newsinenglish.no staff

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