Wreath-laying opens Utoya Island memorial day

Mr Stoltenberg will then speak at the youth wing event on Utoya before laying
a second wreath on the island at 6.45pm, close to the time that the arrival
of the police brought an end to Breivik’s massacre.

The day’s events will be rounded off with a memorial concert in Oslo’s main
square, featuring Norwegian folk singer Lillebjoern Nilsen, who led 40,000
protesters earlier this year in singing Children of the Rainbow, a song
which Breivik had said he detested. US rocker Bruce Springsteen, who is in
Norway as part of his world tour, may also make an appearance.

Representatives of the families said this morning that they felt the memorial
had been marred by their exclusion from the island to make way for the
Labour party youth event.

“It has left a really bad taste around the memorial,” said Jarl Robert

Christensen, whose 15-year-old daughter Birgitta was killed on the island. “We
have argued with them for two months now, and they won’t budge. They should
have included everyone, and they didn’t.”

The AUF hosted the youth camp on Utoya which Anders Breivik attacked a year
ago today, killing 69 people in Norway’s worst massacre since the Second
World War.

But Bjorn Ihler, an AUF member who survived the attack, said yesterday that he
was boycotting today’s ceremony.

“I’m not going because I think that it’s unfair. A lot of people who would go
to the island aren’t because their families aren’t allowed to be there with
them. It’s terribly sad that all these people feel that the organisation is
stepping on them. There’s going to be lots of political speeches, and I
don’t think 22/7 should be a day for parties and politicians.”

An AUF spokesman refused to comment on why the families had been excluded.

Mr Christensen and 180 other relatives angered by the AUF decision are
planning to hold their own ceremony on the island from 5.00pm, at around the
time Breivik arrived on the island, which will end with flowers being
released into the waters around the island, and Chinese lanterns floated
into the air.

The island, 23 miles from Oslo, has been owned by the AUF since 1950.

A debate has been raging in recent months over the future of the island, which
the AUF leadership wants to keep, resuming its annual youth camps next year,
but which many of the families of the bereaved want as a permanent memorial.

Breivik has pleaded guilty to the crimes, but said they were “necessary” to
protect Norway from Islam. The verdict, which will rule on whether he is
sane or insane, is scheduled for August 24.

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