Source Material: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/03/youth-labor-party-camp-reopens-in-norway-two-years-after-mass-shooting/
The
youth wing of Norway’s Labour Party
on Wednesday opened its first summer camp
since
2011,
the year of a
massacre
by Anders Behring Breivik
that left 69
people dead.
People began
gathering Wednesday
for the camp which did not take place in 2012
but has this year attracted hundreds
m
o
r
e
attendees than
in 2011.
In
a show of defiance
by the
youth movement,
around 800 young Norwegians had
signed
up,
compared
with a total of 560
participants two years ago.
“The
summer camp will be run as normal
to
the greatest degree possible,”
AUF
chairman Eskil Pedersen said.
“We’re
proud to hold a summer camp once again,
and
it’s an important step for us to take.”
The camp is not
being held on the island of Utoeya this year
but at the
nearby hamlet Gulsrud
on the banks of
the same lake, as the facilities
where the attack
took place are being
renovated.
“People are
putting up their tents and…
enjoying
themselves and looking forward
to getting
started,”
Pedersen said.
To
beef up security
,
the organisers have been
“in
close contact with the police”
before the event
and
officers will be present at the site.
The
renovation of Utoeya
was postponed
after some of
the survivors
opposed
plans
to tear down
some of the
buildings.
Work
will begin
at
the end of next year
at
the former site,
according to Pedersen.
Breivik’s
attack began in Oslo
on July 22, 2011, where
a
massive bomb
outside
the main government building
killed
eight,
before
he travelled
to
the island to carry out
a
shooting
spree.
Most of the
victims were teenagers.
He
claimed
the killings
were a protest
against
multiculturalism.
In
August 2012,
Breivik was sentenced to
Norway’s
maximum sentence
of
21 years in prison,
which can be
extended indefinitely
if he is deemed
to continue to
pose
a threat to society.
