Norway must mobilize all forces to fight extremism: PM

Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg said Wednesday all forces must be mobilized to fight against extremism as the Nordic country marked the fourth anniversary of the July 22 attacks in 2011 that killed 77 people.

"We find that young people are attracted to extremism in Norway. Some choose to go out as foreign fighters," Solberg said at a wreath-laying ceremony in front of the damaged government building which used to house the office of Norway's prime minister.

"Should we fight radicalization and stave off prejudice, hatred and intolerance, we must mobilize all forces," Solberg said. "We will challenge hate speech and extremism."

Norway on Wednesday opened the 22 July Center, which contains an exhibition on the 2011 attacks, on the ground floor of the damaged government building. The temporary exhibition is planned to last for up to five years.

"The center will spread knowledge so that we can prevent hatred, violence and terrorism. It is an important goal," Solberg said.

"This year terror struck again in Europe, in Copenhagen and in Paris," she said. "This week it hit young people in Turkey."

On July 22, 2011, far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik set off a car bomb just outside the high-rise building in the government administration complex in Oslo and eight people were killed in the attack.

Later the day he killed 69 others, most of them teenagers, in a shooting rampage on Utoya Island, about 40 km northwest of Oslo, where members of the then ruling Labor Party's youth wing had gathered for their annual summer camp.

In 2012, Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in prison at the Oslo District Court.

Norway's penal code does not have the death penalty or life in prison, and the maximum prison term for Breivik's charges is 21 years. However, the term can be repeatedly extended by five years as long as he is considered a threat to society. Enditem