Norway attack live coverage: Anders Behring Breivik in court
Anders Behring Breivik, accused of killing at least 93 people in a bomb attack and shooting rampage in Oslo and on the island of Utøya, due in court today
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- guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 July 2011 08.54 BST
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A makeshift memorial to the dead of Utoya. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty ImagesThe hearing is now under way, according to NRK.
NRK reports that it was young adults who attacked the police car thought to be carrying Breivik as it entered the Oslo Tinghus [courthouse] by a rear entrance.
Interviewing them afterwards, NRK was told that the people did not have any connection with Utøya, but were Oslo inhabitants enraged by the attack on their city.
"No one destroys the city we love and its people!" they are reported to have said. (Thanks to Andrew Boyle)
The Daily Telegraph has been poring over Breivik's rambling, 1,500-page manifesto, and discovered that he is an avid reader of the UK press:
Among hundreds of references Breivik cites are several well-known British newspaper columnists and articles in publications across the political spectrum.Melanie Phillips, of the Daily Mail, is quoted at length, including an opinion piece about Labour's immigration policy which is included in full.
Attacking the rise in immigration, she remarks: "It was done to destroy for ever what it means to be culturally British and to put another 'multicultural' identity in its place."
He also cites an article by Jeremy Clarkson, the Top Gear presenter and Sunday Times columnist, about the flag of St George stating: "This is the only country in the world where the national flag is deemed offensive."
Praising Clarkson's Top Gear performances, Breivik adds: "Discrediting national flags as signs of 'bigotry' is happening all over the Western world."
He also cites The Guardian 10 times.
"So far the people of Olso have displayed incredible restraint over the killings, but tremendous spark of fury at the sight of Breivik," says Mark Townsend.
Protesters shouting "bloody traitor" banged on a car arriving at a court house in Oslo on Monday, believing it held the man who has admitted killing at least 93 people, witnesses said.
The car, a dark blue Volvo, continued on its way after police intervened. One young protester said that the suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, was apparently sitting in the back seat flanked by police officers.
"Everyone here wants him dead," one of the three or four people banging on the car told reporters. He did not give his name. (Via Reuters)
Mark Townsend writes:
As Breivik passed, one guy pointed in the surging crowd: 'That man lost three friends on Utøya Island, what do you have to say now?'
Oeyvind Wahl reprots, via NRK, that security at the court has been massively stepped up and that specially-trained dogs have been sweeping the building for bombs.
This from Mark Townsend at the courthouse:
Breivik arrives at court. Hundreds have gathered as he is smuggled in back entrance. Crowd scream traitor, 'You have betrayed our country'.Gavin Hewitt, the BBC's Europe editor, has written a thoughtful piece on the nature and causes of violent extremism, in which he draws parallels between Breivik and the Oklahoma bomber, Timothy McVeigh:
It is difficult to estimate the extent of extremism. Governments across Europe will be redirecting their intelligence agencies to give an assessment.
Norway's tragedy will be used by some to speak of the dangers of populism. Others will insist that openly and sensitively these questions must be examined and not left to the internet chat rooms.
It is not clear, of course, whether anything could have dissuaded Breivik. It is too early to judge. He has admitted the killings but not accepted criminal responsibility.
The prime minister of Norway has said "you will not destroy democracy".
Overwhelmingly, there is a total revulsion at these crimes. The nation is heartbroken at the young faces staring out from the front of papers and who are still missing. The hatred that did this is incomprehensible to most people.
But these terrible events will prompt a time of reflection in Europe.
Mark Townsend, who's still down at the courthouse, tweets:
No sign of Breivik. Can just about see into the court, full of police. Elsewhere, Interpol are investigating Polish link to Oslo bomb.According to a report today in the Oslo paper Aftenposten, Breivik had originally planned to arrive on the island of Utøya earlier than he did.
Andrew Boyle adds:
It has emerged from police interviews of Breivik this weekend that his goal was to start his massacre during the visit of Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway's prime minister through much of the 1980s and 1990s and leader of the World Health Organisation from 1998 to 2003.
Brundtland held a speech for the summer camp on Friday between 11:10 and 12:40 and remained on the island talking to the teenagers for several hours afterwards. Had the attack gone as planned the atrocity may have had a different complexion, with the headline being an assassination attempt on Bruntland and a massacre of teenagers perhaps being prevented by her bodyguards.
What delayed Breivik is not known at present.
NRK is now reporting that the man arrested in Poland has been detained on suspicion of selling chemicals on the internet. No more info yet, according to Oeyvind Wahl.
Elsewhere, NRK is reporting that Breivik's father is, unsurprisingly, "in shock" — and that the annual Norway Cup youth football tournament will go ahead this weekend. (Thanks to the journalist Oeyvind Wahl for that.)
Mark Townsend sends this from the chaos in the courthouse:
Pandemonium outside Oslo court 828. Media besiege head of city's courts. Transpires 'security' fears prevents Breivik speaking in public.Reuters has been down to Oslo University, where a minute's silence was held to remember the victims of the attacks.
A muffled ripple of applause spread through the crowd as King Harald arrived to sign a book of remembrance, before he and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg climbed the steps of the neo-classical building, and faced the crowd standing hushed in the summer drizzle.
"In remembrance of the victims … I declare one minute's national silence," Stoltenberg said, standing dressed in black on the steps next to the king and queen, the whole group flanked by two burning torches.
The silence stretched to five minutes as thousands more stood around a carpet of flowers outside the nearby Oslo cathedral. The only sound was the squawking of seagulls and a lone dog barking.
Cars stopped in the streets and their drivers got out and stood motionless as traffic lights changed from red to green.
According to Sky, Polish police are looking into reports that Breivik tried to buy explosives in Poland.
Meanwhile, Andrew Boyle has this:
The Oslo tabloid Dagbladet is reporting that police in the Polish city of Wroclaw arrested a man on Sunday, acting on information from the Oslo police.The man is suspected of having had some participation in the bombing of the government buildings in central Oslo. Polish media report that the man runs a firm dealing in chemical products.
More on news that the Norwegian police are revising the initial death toll. This comes courtesy of Andrew Boyle, a Norway-based British journalist:
The police say that the number of dead on Utøya will be adjusted downwards later today.
"The new numbers will be published this afternoon," a spokesman told the website of the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.
Police director Øysten Mæland also confirmed to the broadcaster NRK that the final number will be somewhat lower than previously thought.
It seems that the startling jump from around 10 to more than 80 — which was made during the night after the events — was only a rough estimate.
Mæland added:
"It was necessary to adjust our numbers dramatically because the media were operating with a number of around 10 deaths, while the scenes that met our police out on the island indicated something of a completely different dimension.
Patrick Wintour, our political editor, reports that the National Security Council — chaired by the prime minister — has met this morning to discuss the implications of the terror attacks in Norway:
A No 10 spokesman said they agreed to step up co-operation with Norwegian police and to help with the immediate investigation.
The security services in the UK will look at the issue of whether the killer had any links with Britain.
The National Security Council has also asked the police to check on the safety of the British public and look again at the degree of scrutiny of far-right groups in the UK.
Was Breivik radicalised and brainwashed by far-right websites? Thomas Hylland Eriksen, an anthropologist based at the University of Oslo, believes so. Here's the piece he's written for Comment is Free:
There is a reason why the Norwegian police have not been overly concerned with rightwing extremism in recent years. It is plainly not very visible. An estimated 40 Norwegians currently belong to self-proclaimed extreme rightwing groups.
However, anyone familiar with the darker waters of the blogosphere would for years have been aware of the existence of a vibrant cyberscene characterised by unmitigated hatred of the new Europe, aggressive denunciations of the "corrupted, multiculturalist power elites" and pejorative generalisations about immigrants, targeting Muslims in particular …
The fact that Breivik was Made in Norway, a homegrown terrorist with a hairdo and an appearance suggesting the west end of Oslo, and not a bearded foreign import, should lead not only to a closer examination of these networks, but also to a calm, but critical reflection over the Norwegian self-identity itself.
Breivik's hopes of an open hearing have been dashed by Judge Kim Heger and the police.
Here's what the court has to say about the decision to conduct proceedings away from the public and the press:
Based on information in the case the court finds that today's detention hearing should be held behind closed doors.
It is clear that there is concrete information that a public hearing with the suspect present could quickly lead to an extraordinary and very difficult situation in terms of the investigation and security.
Court clerks have told Mark Townsend that Breivik's "views will be denied a platform".
A spokesman for the Oslo district court says the judge decided to hold the arraignment behind closed doors following a request from police.
Mark Townsend, who is at the courthouse, says the judge may explain his reasoning later.
Mark Townsend adds:
Court clerk just stopped me getting inside the court. Closed hearing. All media banned, late change of heart from judge.
The judge has decided that the hearing will indeed take place behind closed doors, AP reports.
Mark Townsend is hearing word that the case will be heard behind closed doors:
Reports suggest Breivik will not appear in public after all. Even for a nation as open as Norway, his bile deemed too unpalatable.
My colleague Kim Willsher, who is looking at developments in France, reports that police there are protecting Breivik's father and not searching his house, as previously thought:
French gendarmes have denied carrying out a search at the home of Breivik's estranged father.
Local officials said gendarmes had been sent to the luxury villa in the village of Cournanel in the Aude to protect retired diplomat Jens Breivik and his Norwegian wife Wanda.
Antoine Leroy, state prosecutor at Carcassonne, said the officers were there in a "preventative role".
"There is no specific evidence to make us believe there is the slightest threat against this man, but it is prevention. There have been rumours of searches, but this is wrong. There has been no legal action at Cournanel," Leroy told French journalists.
The gendarmes have said they are expecting to be posted to guard the Breivik house for some time. Leroy confirmed reports that members of the French Foreign Legion had been seen outside the villa on Sunday, but said this was because a Legionnaire was acting as a translator between the couple and gendarmes.
In an interview published in the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang on Sunday, Jens Breivik said he was in a state of shock after hearing the reports of the massacre on Friday. He said he had not seen his son for years and had only discovered what he had done from reports on the internet.
He has since refused to answer questions from journalists outside his home. His wife Wanda, who reporters said does not appear to speak French, said in Norwegian that she had never met her stepson.
Mark Townsend tweets the extraordinary reaction of the Norwegians he's spoken to:
One striking aspect is that of dozens of locals, including survivors from island, I've met not one has condemned Breivik. Tolerance prevails.Mark Townsend sends this moving dispatch from the Norwegian capital:
Huge crowd beginning to assemble in central Oslo ahead of a minute's silence in memory of the dead. Fleet of ambulance crews just arrived and laid red roses on the field of flowers that continues to grow outside the city's cathedral. The square of flowers is at least 30 metres wide.
"I never thought I'd see anything like this in Norway," said Tove Baust, 72, who had travelled an hour by bus to pay her respects.
Wiping her eyes, she added: "It's very emotional to see the people gathered here."
Many among the crowd are holding hands, some are sobbing as they lay wreaths.
More from Mark Townsend in Oslo, who tweets:
Will the world get to hear Breivik justify his killing spree? Quite possibly. Given a court pass for hearing police want behind closed doors
Here's a statement from the Norwegian prosecutors, via Reuters:
The judge will make the final decision on whether to allow the hearing to be heard by outsiders. Breivik has said through his lawyer that he wants to explain the motives for his actions at the hearing.
Prosecutors said they will ask for eight weeks of detention for Breivik at the hearing. That can be extended before trial.
The prosecutor will also request for closed doors during the hearing. "This issue will be negotiated after the opening of the meeting [hearing]," the prosecutors said in an email in English.
"The judge will then read his decision to the press."
One of the survivors of the Utøya attack has told BBC Breakfast what he saw and heard on the island on Friday:
My friends came running in my direction, away from him," said Vegard Geroslaven Slan.
"Soon I heard gunshots and saw people fall to the ground and after that I saw him walk over to them and shoot them in the head while they were lying on the ground. At that point I obviously understood it was so serious I just ran. I hid in a small woody area and I hid in a cabin, just hid there under a bed until the police arrived."
Slan said he could hear the shootings from his hiding place.
He went on: "We were a group of almost 40 people hiding in this cabin and we could hear gunshots all the time. I knew he was going for the kill. It was terrible because I was thinking that he was shooting my friends while I was lying there but I was just praying and hoping that he wouldn't come into the cabin where we were and thankfully he didn't."
Boris Johnson's Telegraph column today is worth a read. Like so many before him, Johnson concludes, Breivik has attempted to dress up his own motives in a suit of specious geopolitical jargon:
Michael Ryan had no ideology in Hungerford; Thomas Hamilton had no ideology in Dunblane. To try to advance any other explanation for their actions – to try to advance complicated "social" factors, or to examine the impact of multiculturalism in Scandinavia – is simply to play their self-important game. Anders Breivik may have constructed a portentous 1,500 page manifesto, but like so many others of his type he was essentially a narcissist and egomaniac who could not cope with being snubbed. We should spend less time thinking about him, and much more on the victims and their families.My colleague Mark Townsend, who is reporting from Oslo, sends this:
It feels like the entire country of Norway is waiting for the moment Anders Behring Breivik appears in an Oslo court charged with terrorism offences. In the capital, the mood remains subdued, locals describe the morning's rush hour as more muted than usual.Five minutes walk from the courthouse, a vast sea of flowers dedicated to the dead continues to spread from the city cathedral.
Already a large crowd is gathering in the central plaza ahead of a minute's silence dedicated the victims at noon, local time.
Tensions ahead of Breivik's appearance escalated shortly after breakfast with news that Crown Princess Mette-Marit's stepbrother was among 86 killed on Nyota Island. It seems he was the off-duty police officer placed on the island to guard the children.
At the island itself, search and rescue teams continue to trawl the waters for the bodies of those still missing.
One issue yet to be resolved this morning is whether the public and media will be allowed into the court. Police have requested that Breivik should appear behind closed doors, mindful that the 32 year old has stated that he wants to exploit the hearing in order to propagate his anti-Islamic, anti-immigration views.
A judge will make the decision ahead of Breivik's appearance, scheduled for around 1pm.
There is controversy too over whether a sentence handed to Breivik will be increased to reflect his threat to society. Under Norwegian law Breivik faces a maximium 21 years in jail, but this can be extended under certain circumstances.
Breivik has admitted the killings, describing them as "atrocious but necessary" although he refuses to accept criminal responsibility for them. Should the public and media be allowed into court, they are likely to watch Breivik deliver an unrepentant justification for the killing spree that has left at least 93 dead.
For now, a nation that can still scarcely believe what has happened holds its breath.
A little more on Crown Princess Mette-Marit's stepbrother, who was among those killed on Utøya. A court spokeswoman has told AP that his name was Trond Berntsen, and that he was the son of Mette-Marit's stepfather, who died in 2008.
The death toll from Friday's attacks could be lower than previously thought, according to Norwegian police.
From what we now know, it looks like we will revise down the number of people killed [on the island]," said the head of Norway's police force, Oeystein Maeland.Until now, police said Breivik had shot dead 86 people on Utøya and killed a further seven in a bomb explosion in central Oslo.
According to AP, the prosecution will request eight weeks of pretrial detention for Breivik — and a closed hearing.
Breivik, who has described the attack as "atrocious" but "necessary", wants to tell Norway and the world why he did what he did, according to his lawyer. Geir Lippestad has also revealed that his client has asked to wear a uniform in court, but has not elaborated.
Police have not confirmed a local media report that they planned to request a closed hearing:
It's up to the judge to decide. It's not uncommon that the police will ask for it in advance but I don't know if the police will ask for that," Liv Corneliussen, a police prosecutor, told Reuters.
According to AP, French police are raiding the house of Breivik's father:
French gendarmes are searching the house of the father of the man who confessed to attacks that killed 93 people in Norway.
About a dozen gendarmes are surrounding the house in Cournanel in southern France on Monday, entering and leaving at irregular intervals.
The house is cordoned off, and reporters do not have access.
The regional gendarme service confirmed the house was that of Anders Behring Breivik's father but would not comment on the search operation.
News reports have said Breivik's father, Jens Breivik, has not been in touch with his son in many years.
This is Sam Jones, bringing you the Guardian's rolling coverage of the aftermath of the worst peacetime massacre in Norway's modern history.
Here's a round-up of the main developments overnight and this morning:• Anders Behring Breivik, the 32-year-old man accused of killing at least 93 people, is due in court at 1300 local time (1100 GMT)
• Breivik has admitted being behind the bombing in downtown Oslo and shooting massacre at a youth camp outside the capital, but denies criminal responsibility
• Reports suggest the police have asked for the hearing to take place behind closed doors
• Crown Princess Mette-Marit's stepbrother — an off-duty police officer who was working as a security guard on Utøya — was among those killed on the island
• Breivik laid out his extreme nationalist philosophy as well as his attack methods in a 1,500-page manifesto. It also describes how he bought armour, guns, tonnes of fertiliser and other bomb components, stashed caches of weapons and wiping his computer hard drive — all while evading police suspicion.
2011-07-25
Norway attack live coverage: Anders Behring Breivik in court | News | guardian.co.uk
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