Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg admitted that his country would be changed by the mass killing last week, but vowed to ensure it remains an open and democratic society.
In the wake of Friday’s attacks that killed at least 76 people, Mr Stoltenberg told the BBC: “I believe that Norway will change. We will have a Norway before and a Norway after the bomb attack and the killing.
“But I believe at the same time that Norway will be possible to recognise.
“We will still be a society which is very clear on our values of democracy, of openness and a society where we welcome people to be active, participate in political work in a way where they can feel safe.”
Speaking from his official residence, Mr Stoltenberg said Norway had been prepared for acts of terror but could never have imagined such violence.
He said: “Norway is a country where we all feel very close to each other and we have never experienced anything like this before.
“We have to go back to the World War II to find any kind of violence which is similar to what we experienced on Friday.
“Therefore, people in Norway are in deep grief, they are still shocked but we also see a Norway which is very unified, where people are standing really together to comfort each other and to take care of each other.”
Mr Stoltenberg said that “as far as I know, or the police, they don’t have any records, any information about him being a threat or a dangerous person”.
“One possible explanation for that is, of course, that if he acted alone it was more difficult to discover, and to see and to know it beforehand,” he said.
Asked to explain how a Norwegian citizen could become so extreme, he replied: “No society, and we’ve seen that in many societies, is able to 100 per cent protect itself against acts of terror, acts of violence.”
Norway “will learn” from the tragedy, he said, “but I will do whatever I can to make sure that we do not change in a way which undermines our core values of openness, democracy and participation”.
Faced with the worst crimes on its territory since World War II, many in Norway have been dismayed by the prospect that the perpetrator could serve just 21 years behind bars – the maximum sentence allowed for the terrorism charges that Andres Behring Breivik currently faces.
But prosecutor Christian Hatlo told the Aftenposten newspaper that police are now envisaging charging him with crimes against humanity for the bombing of Oslo’s government district and a shooting spree on a nearby island. “Police have so far cited... the law on terrorism but seeking other charges has not been excluded,” police spokesman Sturla Henreiksboe said. “No final decision has yet been taken,” he said.
Mr Behring Breivik admitted carrying out the attacks at his first court appearance on Monday when he was remanded in custody for eight weeks.
The 32-year-old says he was on a Crusade to save Norway and Western Europe from a Muslim invasion and that the attacks targeting the Labour Party-led government and its youth wing were “cruel” but “necessary”.
The police have come in for heavy criticism over the time it took them to reach Utoeya island where Mr Behring Breivik shot dead 68 of his victims in a spree that lasted around 90 minutes.
It also emerged on Monday that police investigated Mr Behring Breivik in March for a purchase of chemicals, but the probe was dropped.
The incident was judged too insignificant to warrant a follow-up, Norwegian Police Security Service head Janne Kristiansen said.
In a press conference yesterday, Norway’s Justice Minister Knut Storberget hailed the “fantastic” work done by police. “I had the opportunity to thank police in Oslo and other districts and other organs for their fantastic work,” he said after meeting police chiefs.
“These are people who worked much harder than you could expect of anyone, these are people who interrupted their holidays and who volunteered to help from all parts of the country.”
Aside from showing a willingness to come to the nation’s aid, the minister hailed the efforts of the “men and women of the police” to re-establish “security” and “normality” after the attacks.
United in grief, more than 100,000 flower-carrying Norwegians thronged central Oslo on Monday evening in a vigil for the victims.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg admitted the country would be changed permanently by the attacks, but vowed to ensure it remains an open society.
He told the grimly defiant crowd massed in the city centre: “Evil can kill a person but it cannot kill a people.”
Reactions
Killer’s father
Anders Behring Breivik, who admitted carrying out last week’s twin attacks in Norway, should have committed suicide instead of killing 76 people, his estranged father told TV2 in an interview.
“I think that ultimately he should have taken his own life rather than kill so many people,” Jens Breivik said in the interview recorded in Cournanel in the south of France where the retired diplomat lives.
Jens Breivik said he had not had any contact with his son for 15 years.
Britain
Britain is taking “extremely seriously” claims by the man believed responsible for killing he had links with far-right groups in England, Prime Minister David Cameron said.
Mr Cameron said that Britain shared “the sorrow and the anger” felt in Norway over the killings and would offer any support that Oslo needs in the wake of the massacre. Mr Cameron said that the claim was being taken “extremely seriously. Britain has already provided police assistance and will continue to offer our expertise and our moral support. Britain and Norway have been good allies and neighbours in very dark days before. We know that the resilience and the courage and the decency of our Norwegian friends will overcome this evil.”
Russia
The self-confessed Norwegian mass-killer who revealed his admiration for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is a madman and “the devil incarnate”, Mr Putin’s spokesman said in comments. “He is the devil incarnate. An absolute madman. And whatever he wrote or said, it cannot be called anything but the ravings of a madman,” Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Kommersant newspaper, referring to Anders Behring Breivik.
In the manifesto, he also de-nounces political correctness and speaks of the need to establish a Norwegian equivalent of Russia’s pro-Putin Nashi patriotic movement.
Spain
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called for a common European response against xenophobia and intolerance as he expressed his horror at the attacks in Norway.
“This isn’t just another event,” he told reporters in London. “This is something extremely serious that requires a response, a European response, a shared response to defend freedom, to defend democracy, calling on people to rise up and fight radicalism, to respond against xenophobia.”
Mr Zapatero said: “One single person killed so many innocent people. I think it’s one of the biggest tragedies we have witnessed in decades. It is one of the most worrying and serious events that we have ever seen take place on European soil.”