Re: Horror on Oslo Pride day as gunman eradicates queer vermin at gay bar

[Governor Swill]

In article <XnsAC8DD34E...@95.216.243.224>
<obamasu...@shiteaters.com> wrote:

By Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche

OSLO (Reuters) -Terrified revellers at a gay bar in Oslo hid in
a basement and desperately called loved ones as a gunman went on
the rampage, killing two people and injuring 21 on the day the
city was due to celebrate its annual Pride parade.

Authorities said the suspect, a 42-year-old Norwegian citizen of
Iranian origin, was believed to be a radicalised Islamist with a
history of mental illness who had been known to intelligence
services since 2015.

The suspect will be subjected to a psychiatric evaluation in the
coming days as part of the investigation, police said.

The attack took place in the early hours of Saturday, with
victims shot inside and outside the London Pub, a longstanding
hub of Oslo's LGBTQ scene, as well as in the surrounding streets
and at one other bar in the centre of the Norwegian capital.

The deceased were two men in their 50s and 60s, police said.

"Everything indicates that this has been an attack by an
Islamist extremist," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a
news conference.

"We don't (yet) know if the queer community was the intended
target, but we know it is a victim."

Bili Blum-Jansen, who was in the London Pub, said he fled to the
basement to escape the hail of bullets and hid there along with
80 to 100 other people.

"Many called their partners and family, it felt almost as if
they were saying goodbye. Others helped calm down those who were
extremely terrified," he told TV2.

"I had a bit of panic and thought that if the shooter or
shooters were to arrive, we'd all be dead. There was no way out."

Rainbow flags symbolising the Pride community were on prominent
display across Oslo this week, but Saturday's planned parade was
cancelled at the advice of police.

"Last night the rainbow was coloured black," said Anette
Trettebergstuen, Norway's minister of culture and equality and
herself a prominent campaigner for LGBTQ rights.

'CRYING AND SCREAMING'

While the official parade was called off, several thousand
people held a spontaneous march in central Oslo, waving rainbow
flags and chanting in English: "We're here, we're queer, we
won't disappear."

Norway's Crown Prince Haakon, his wife Crown Princess Mette-
Marit and their youngest child, 16-year-old Prince Sverre
Magnus, later joined the prime minister and other officials to
lay red and white roses near the London Pub.

"We must protect the right in Norway to love whomever we want,"
Haakon told reporters.

The suspect was detained minutes after embarking on the shooting
spree, according to police, who said they believed he acted
alone. Two weapons, including a fully automatic gun, were
retrieved from the crime scene, they added.

The man has declined to be interrogated by police, his lawyer
John Christian Elden told public broadcaster NRK.

Witnesses described the chaos that erupted inside and outside
the London Pub, which has been open since 1979.

"Many people were crying and screaming, the injured were
screaming, people were distressed and scared - very, very
scared," said Marcus Nybakken, 46, who had left the bar shortly
before the shooting and returned later to help.

"My first thought was that Pride was the target, so that's
frightening."

Journalist Olav Roenneberg of broadcaster NRK said he was in the
area at the time and saw a man arrive with a bag, take out a gun
and start to shoot: "Then I saw windows breaking and understood
that I had to take cover."

WIDESPREAD CONDEMNATION

European leaders condemned the shooting, as did the White House.

"I am shocked by the heinous attack on innocent people in Oslo,"
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted.

"No-one should have to fear for their life or well-being simply
for who they are."

French President Emmanuel Macron, writing in both French and
Norwegian on his official Twitter account, expressed his
sympathies. "We stand stronger against hate if we stand
together," he said.

John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White House's National
Security Council, told reporters on board Air Force One the
Biden administration had been in touch with Norway to offer
condolences and support.

"We're all horrified by the mass shooting in Oslo today
targeting the LGBTQI+ community there and our hearts obviously
go out to the all the families of the victims, the people of
Norway, which is a tremendous ally, and of course the LGBTQI+
community there and around the world," he said.

Norwegian security authorities raised the country's terrorism
threat assessment to its highest level following the attack, in
which 21 people were also wounded, 10 of them severely.

The police, who are not normally armed, will carry guns until
further notice, it said.

Other major events in the capital went ahead as planned on
Saturday, police and organisers said, including a large outdoor
music festival and a soccer match between the women's teams of
Norway and New Zealand.

The shooting took place just months after Norway marked 50 years
since the abolition of a law that criminalised gay sex.

The Nordic nation of 5.4 million has lower crime rates than many
Western countries, though it has experienced hate-motivated
shootings, including when far-right extremist Anders Behring
Breivik killed 77 people in 2011.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche in Oslo,
additional reporting by Andrea Shalal aboard Air Force One,
Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen and Foo Yun Chee in Brussels;
Editing by Pravin Char, Frank Jack Daniel, Peter Graff)

https://news.yahoo.com/two-dead-several-wounded-norway-
000041958.html