The Norwegian Police Directorate has decided that in future the police will be armed in certain periods – including on 17 May.
Monday 29 April at 16:16
– Arming is important as a preventive measure, and to ensure a quick and effective response from the police in order to reduce the extent of damage in the event of an attack, says Emergency Preparedness Director Tone Vangen in the Norwegian Police Directorate.
– It is nevertheless important to say that neither the police nor PST are aware of concrete threats of terror, says Vangen.
The armaments will mainly be linked to events, anniversaries and holidays. The police mention 17 May as an example, but will not elaborate on further events.
– We cannot say where and when the police are armed because there will be local assessments linked to events in the individual police districts, says Vangen.
The police encourage everyone to attend events as usual.
Armed police on National Day seem to have become the new normal.
– The police were armed in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023, according to section chief Jørn Schjelderup in the Norwegian Police Directorate.
The exception in 2020 is due to the fact that children’s trains were not arranged due to the pandemic. In 2021 there was general arming of the police for a longer period which included 17 May.
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