Oslo, Norway | AFP | Oslo Cathedral hosted a mass in honor of the deceased, the day after the attack that left two dead and 21 wounded. The altar was decorated with the colors of the rainbow and with flowers.
“Bullets cannot kill love,” declared the head of the Norwegian Protestant Church, Olav Fykse Tveit.
Crown Princess Mette-Marit was present at the ceremony, although without her husband Prince Haakon, sick with covid-19.
The exact reasons that led the suspect to shoot are not yet known, but authorities described him as an Islamist with a fragile state of mental health.
“Oslo is in mourning and the whole country is shocked by the attack, which has particularly hit homosexuals who had gathered to celebrate Pride,” the church said in a statement on Saturday.
The shooting took place around 01:00 (23:00 GMT Friday) outside a pub and an LGBT club — the London Pub — at a time of strong influx due to the Gay Pride celebrations.
Two men between the ages of 50 and 60 were killed and 21 others were injured, ten of them seriously.
Norwegian of Iranian descent
The LGBT Pride march, which was due to take place on Saturday afternoon in Oslo for the first time in three years due to the pandemic, was canceled on the recommendation of the police.
But Oslo Mayor Raymond Johansen promised it would take place at a later date and thousands of people gathered for a spontaneous march.
According to the Oslo police, the alleged perpetrator of the shooting is a 42-year-old Norwegian of Iranian origin, identified by local media as Zaniar Matapour.
Norwegian intelligence services indicated on Saturday that the man had been on the radar since 2015 for his radicalization and his membership in an extremist Islamist network.
In addition, he had been convicted of lesser crimes and the authorities point to a fragile state of mental health.
The police ordered that he be placed under observation to help clarify the question of his criminal responsibility.
But investigators still do not know if the attack was carried out for ideological or religious reasons or if it is a hate crime against the homosexual community or the act of an unbalanced person.
“It can be a combination,” said Oslo police official Børge Enoksen at a news conference on Sunday. “It’s too early to draw any conclusions,” he added.
The drama shocked the country, generally peaceful, but which experienced a black day in July 2011 when a right-wing extremist killed 77 people in a bomb attack in Oslo and a shooting at a Labor Party youth meeting on the island of Utoya. .
Police deployed reinforcements in the capital and intelligence services raised the threat level, calling the situation “extraordinary.”
As a show of solidarity, rainbow flags and bouquets of flowers were placed near the site of the attack, which was cordoned off.
“It is important to express our condolences and say that love is love, and that it is the same for everyone, that everyone should have the right to live their life as they want,” said Kristin Wenstad, a cook who went to the scene of the tragedy. , on the verge of tears.
