35 arrested during neo-Nazi demonstration in Oslo – VG

Members of the neo-Nazi group The Nordic Resistance Movement ended up in a scuffle with the police on Saturday afternoon. 30 of those arrested are foreign citizens.

https://twitter.com/FilterNyheter/status/1586334784015699968 mentioned the matter first.
The Oslo police reported on Twitter on Saturday evening that 30 of those arrested were foreign citizens. They will remain in custody until Sunday morning at the earliest.

VG has information that these are Danish and Swedish citizens.

Four Norwegians who were brought in have been released from custody.

– The suspects receive a punitive response, as well as that a legal assessment related to the Immigration Act is carried out during the night, the police write further

NRK has also discussed the case, and writes that there was talk of riots.

– NRK must be responsible for the use of words, but we are talking about a group of 40-50 people who have a desire to express themselves. This has not been clarified with the police and landowner in advance, operations manager Tor Gulbrandsen told VG on Saturday afternoon.

VG has been sent a video that shows protesters in hand-to-hand combat with the police in the area between the Thon Hotel Europa in St. Olavs gate and Pilestredet – a few hundred meters from the Slottsparken and the Castle in central Oslo.

Operations manager Gulbrandsen emphasizes that it is permissible to demonstrate peacefully, but that the group refused to comply with the police’s instructions when they moved in the center of Oslo. The police have thus taken several people into custody.

– Can you confirm that some of them fight with the police?

– There have been some who have been in opposition to the police. They refused to comply with our orders and resisted arrest. It is conceivable that more people will also receive a report for that particular part, for violence against officials, says Gulbrandsen.

Operations leader at the scene, Erik Hestvik, says at 16.30 that there have been no injuries, but that nine people were arrested at Universitetsgata and a further 26 people in St. Olavs gate.

– All have been taken into custody, says Hestvik.

– Can you say anything more about the sequence of events?

– Now it is like that in this country that we want to facilitate the relationship for any expression and that includes the grouping that we faced today, but when we then make contact and there is no climate for dialogue, then it is difficult to put the conditions right. So it is the police’s starting point that we create the right conditions for freedom of expression, but that requires a certain dialogue, and that was not present today, says Hestvik.

– The group you are talking about is the Nordic Resistance Movement. Tell us a little more about how they performed today?

– The picture speaks for itself, but as I mentioned, there was some pushing in connection with the arrest at the two places, but no one was injured and we are satisfied with that.

Støre: – The last thing we need

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) tells NTB that the attitudes of the Nordic Resistance Movement should not be accepted.

– The last thing we need is division and the spread of hatred between people in Norway, as we have seen in Oslo today, he says and continues:

– For many, it is frightening that attitudes like this are expressed in our streets. We do not accept that, and to all of you who are affected by this type of hate, I want to say: We stand with you and we will never let hate win or go unchallenged, says Støre.

The police’s task leader Erik Hestvik says that among those who have been arrested, there are individuals from several countries.

– Can you say something about criminal history?

– No, I can’t go into that. Now there is a number of nine plus 26, and we have to get some time to get control of them.

– What will happen next with them?

– They have been taken into custody, and then they will be registered with us. And reviews will be written, so we’ll see what the reaction is then.

No weapons have been found on anyone in the groupings, says the task leader.

Opponents of opinion

The commotion occurred close to an ongoing, announced demonstration with several hundred participants against the Iranian dictatorship.

Large crowds and a large police presence also meant that car traffic in the area was stopped by the police for a shorter period. Photos from the scene show that some of the police officers are wearing gas masks.

– Here we are talking about several groups that are opposed to opinion. The police have had more resources to prevent these groups ending up in some form of fighting. That hasn’t happened either, says Gulbrandsen.

– Photos from the scene show police officers wearing gas masks. Was tear gas used against the protesters?

– We have it as part of the equipment. I am a little unsure whether it has been used as of now, he says.

– Is this still ongoing?

– We are in the process of transporting people in, but it will take some time as there is such a large group, says the operations manager to VG at 3.19pm.

Eyewitness: – Shouted Nazi slogans

Emil Bjørnstad Belgau, who was close to where the riot took place, tells VG that the demonstrators from the Nordic Resistance Movement went up Universitetsgata from Karl Johan.

– They shouted Nazi slogans, and there were about 40 of them. I would assume that half disappeared along the way, he says.

– When the neo-Nazis from the Nordic Resistance Movement came here, I saw that five or six of them were arrested by the police and taken away, adds Belgau.

Iranian-Norwegian Kaveh Abdali took part in the demonstration against the Iranian dictatorship, which passed close to the noise surrounding the Nordic Resistance Movement. He was one of several hundred people who took part in the legal demonstration train in central Oslo on Saturday afternoon.

– I didn’t particularly notice what happened next to our own demonstration train. I also don’t want to bother with what this neo-Nazi grouping would signify. I leave this to the police, says Abdali, who is head of organization abroad for the Kurdistan Democratic Party. He emphasizes that the demonstration in which he himself participated was completely legal and approved by the police.