, on 25 July 2011 in the aftermath of the attacks. An estimated 200,000 attended the flower march.
Domestic King Harald V sent his condolences to the victims and their families, and urged unity. He and
Queen Sonja personally visited the victims of the attacks, as well as the families of those killed. At a press conference the morning after the attacks, Prime Minister
Jens Stoltenberg and Justice Minister
Knut Storberget addressed the country. Stoltenberg called the attack a "national tragedy" and the worst atrocity in Norway since
World War II. Stoltenberg further vowed that the attack would not hurt Norwegian democracy, and said the proper answer to the violence was "more democracy, more openness, but not naivety". In his speech at the memorial service on 24 July 2011, he
opined what would be a proper reaction: "No one has said it better than the AUF girl who was interviewed by CNN: 'If one man can show so much hate, think how much love we could show, standing together.'" The leader of the
Workers' Youth League,
Eskil Pedersen, vowed to "return to Utøya" and urged Norway to continue its tradition of openness and tolerance. Leaders of Norwegian political parties expressed grief and sent condolences in public statements. On 1 August 2011,
Norway's parliament, nominally in recess for the summer, reconvened for an extraordinary session to honour the victims of the attack. In a departure from parliamentary procedure, both King Harald V and
Crown Prince Haakon were present. The
president of Norway's Parliament,
Dag Terje Andersen, read out loud the names of all 77 victims. The session was open to the public, but due to limited seating, priority was given to relatives of the deceased. August 21 in Norway was declared a
day of national mourning to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attack. The seven political parties in the
parliament agreed to postpone the electoral campaign for
local elections, held in September, until mid-August. School debates were cancelled, though the school elections were not. Initially,
Magnus Ranstorp and other terror experts suspected that foreigners were behind the attacks. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, non-ethnic Norwegians, especially Muslim Norwegians, were subjected to harassment and violence. On 13 August 2012, Norway's prime minister received the
Gjørv Report, which concludes that Breivik could have been stopped from carrying out the Utøya massacre. (The report had been ordered by parliament, in August 2011.)
International flying at half-mast in
Helsinki after the attacks The United Nations, the European Union, NATO, and governments around the world expressed their condemnation of the attacks, condolences, and
solidarity with Norway. However, there have also been reports of Western European right-wing populist politicians giving support to the killings or excusing them as a result of
multi-culturalism. Interviewed on a popular radio show, the Italian MEP
Francesco Speroni, a leading member of the
Lega Nord, the junior partner in Berlusconi's conservative coalition, said: "Breivik's ideas are in defence of western civilisation." Similar views were voiced by Italian MEP Mario Borghezio. Werner Koenigshofer, a member of the
National Council of Austria, was expelled from the right-wing
Freedom Party of Austria after equating the massacre with the death of millions of fetuses through abortion. On 25 July 2011, at noon (CEST), each of the
Nordic countries held a
minute of silence to dignify the victims of the two attacks. Norway's minute of silence stretched to five minutes. In Oslo, a city of approximately 600,000 inhabitants, an estimated 200,000 people attended a "flower march". The Norwegian media reported criticism against
Fox News and its commentator
Glenn Beck for their coverage of the attacks. Beck's comparison of the
AUF to the
Hitler Youth led
Frank Aarebrot, a Norwegian professor with political sympathies to the
Norwegian Labour Party, to call Beck a "fascist" and "swine".
Memorial ceremonies A number of memorial ceremonies took place following the attacks. On 25 July 2011, around 200,000 people took part in a "rose march" at
Rådhusplassen in Oslo. The
NRK memorial concert, titled "Mitt lille land" ("My Little Country") and named for the song "
Mitt lille land" which "came to symbolize the sorrow many people went through", took place in
Oslo Cathedral on 30 July 2011. A national memorial ceremony took place on 21 August 2011.
Memorials National memorials A national memorial stands at
Johan Nygaardsvolds plass at
Regjeringskvartalet in Oslo. It was unveiled on 22 July 2016, and is temporary. In 2024, 10 designs (each from a candidate) were presented to the public; in the future, one of the candidate's design will be chosen for the permanent memorial; each
candidate consists of 1-3 persons; the 10 candidates include 20 persons; the project does not have an end date.
National memorial at Utøya-kaia, Tyrifjorden Construction on a national memorial at
Utøya-kaia (on the shores of
Tyrifjorden) in Hole,
Buskerud, was completed in June 2022. The memorial consists of a curved staircase located by the dock for the ferry to Utoya island. There are 77 narrow bronze columns at the base of the steps, representing the number of victims of the attacks. He described the memorial as "a place that can always remind us of everything we lost, a place where our children and grandchildren can learn about what happened, and about the consequences of right-ring extremism and hate." neighbours of the construction site had sued to have the work stopped, the
litigants claiming that the memorial would be a constant reminder about the terror of the attack, and that the expected influx of visitors would be an added source of strain on their health. One neighbour testified in court, that he rescued persons who had been wounded by the terrorist, and said: "We are again and again reminded about what happened. I will not have the strength to look at the columns [a design element of the memorial]. I will only be able to see the face of the dead." The secretary general of
AUF, himself a survivor of the attack, testified that he did not understand the neighbours'
angst in regard to the memorial. and in February 2021 the court ruled against the opponents, finding that the benefits of the memorial outweighed the traumas it might revive. of the majority of those 69 killed are engraved"; "it lies at the highest point of the island"; It was unveiled during summer 2015. •
Hegnhuset was inaugurated in 2016. • "The Iron Roses"
Jernrosene is located at
Domkirke-parken in Oslo. The memorial has around 900 [metal] roses; they were donated by persons in various countries; one rose was created by a survivor, and some by others who were bereaved. the display case was moved back to where it was located in 2011—outside [the building at] Akersgata 55, the headquarters of
Verdens Gang. The installation is referred to by the governmental organisation
KORO, as "Relocating the past: ruins for the future". The newspaper edition from the day of the bombing, is still on display. • One monolith stands in each municipality. There are memorials created by the artist in the 53 affected municipalities in Norway who welcomed the same sculpture, funded by a private donation. of Utøya that is located on
E16 at Nes in
Hole (municipality).
Proposed memorials A monument at in Oslo has been proposed, including metal roses. It has not been authorised, as its planned dimensions of by , with a height of , were judged to be too overwhelming.
Cancelled national memorial at Sørbråten , Hole Municipality has stopped case work regarding the request for permission to build a national monument at ; media said that the case work could be arrested for around two and a half years or longer. The government is scheduled to be a defendant in court during a three-week trial, starting 25 April 2017; the underlying lawsuit aims to deny construction at the planned location. Previously, in March 2016, the location for a planned national place of memorial was moved from Utøya to Sørbråten – located on the mainland from Utvika and from Utøya; in September 2014 the Hole municipal council had refused a memorial at Sørbråten. The names of several of the victims are reportedly being denied (, by next of kin) as inscriptions on the planned monument. A committee,
Kunstutvalget for minnestaden for 22. juli, chose a design by
Jonas Dahlberg for the monument, and
Karin Moe has called the planned monument at Sørbråten – "
Breivik's Memorial Place". A later article said that "What many of us don't understand is why these plans, apparently not well-considered, now are pushed through.... Is it [because of] prestige or out of consideration to the artist"? On 14 April 2016, media said that a "report has indicated that the place of memorial will create great mental strains on the persons living in its close proximity"; The report,
Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter om vold og traumatisk stress a/s, was completed in April 2015. A later newspaper article asked "And why should the little island [sic], [Sørbråten be punished with the
jötunn cut – what wrong has the island done?" On 16 April 2016 media quoted board member Anne-Gry Ruud of
neighbourhood association,
Utstranda Velforening: "I don't think that the work of art honors all who were killed, but symbolizes only pain and open wounds.... If this work of art gives any associations, then they are to terror, death, pain and the inadequacy of society.... This is not just a small cut on a point – it is an area of 1.2
decare [that will become surrounded by water].... I don't think that the [local] inhabitants have a responsibility to provide a location for a memorial at Sørbråten. Especially in the summer we experience a steady flow of tourists on a pilgrimage to Sørbråten. Some take selfies with Utøya in the background. Others stop the inhabitants and ask what they did that day and how we contributed.... We have two schoolbuses that drive back and forth every day on the road just above, others pass on their way to the store, leisure activities, work or municipal centre... 260 inhabitants". The national convention of the Progress Party decided to say "no" to placing the memorial at Sørbråten. On 25 April 2016 Hole Municipal Council decided to fund Norwegian kroner 25,000 to
Utstranda Velforening, for a proposed lawsuit against the government. In a 14 May 2016
Aftenposten article , a film director and -producer, said that the monument of the original contest was supposed to have a price limited to Norwegian kroner 20 million; now that the government has estimated the price to 70 million including relevant extra expenses, the contestants that operated within the original price limits have been deceived. In May 2016 the government wrote that the ongoing lawsuit about [placing] the monument [at Sørbråten], will not change the government's plans; the letter was signed by
Minister of Local Government and Modernisation and
Minister of Culture. An 18 June 2016
Dagbladet article quoted (writings of) one mother (Gunn Rusten) who lost her daughter: "My daughter's name will NOT be displayed on any memorial at Sørbråten, but it is displayed at Utøya". the government has offered to ditch the "Memory Wound" draft for a monument; the site for a national memorial at Sørbråten, remains unchanged. Swedish psychiatrist Per-Olof Michel said "I have been thinking why the government was in such a hurry. In Sweden one will be unveiling the Tsunami Monument next year – 13 years after the fact. Regarding something that affects so many people, one should let time pass and go thru things again".
Bodil Cappelen said in a
Klassekampen article that "Centuries will pass... Oh, yes. Here they have cut off a point—from the mountain mama. A landscape was not that much worth—then". Regarding "Memory Wound" possibly being plagiarism of one of 300 candidate proposals for the pre-qualification in the contest for monument design, art historian said that "My first impression was that this is closest [to] plagiarism"; "But when the idea is so similar, I think one should examine the case further"; [the final written work for the master's degree,]
masteroppgaven, of architect students Kristin Ulrikke Rønnestad og Hildegunn Slotnæs had already been published on
NTNU's website, and had been exhibited in Trondheim, and had been mailed to around 200 persons and offices. marked attempts at stopping the Danish playwright
Christian Lollike when he wanted to stage a drama based on the terrorist's manuscript. Artists are in fact not as daring, as many like to think". ==Legal proceedings==