Oslo’s Pride March called off after shooting near gay bars

Norwegian police have recommended that Oslo’s Pride march, due to be held later on Saturday, be cancelled following deadly shootings at three locations.

Police said they were treating the attacks that killed two people near bars in central Oslo overnight as a “terrorist attack”. 

A suspect was arrested after the shootings, which occurred at around 1:00 am local time (2300 GMT Friday) in three locations, including a gay bar in central Oslo.

The Oslo Pride march that was due to take place in Norway’s capital Oslo on Saturday afternoon had been called off after deadly overnight shootings, organisers said.

“All events linked to Oslo Pride have been cancelled” following “clear” recommendations by police, the organisers of the march wrote on Facebook.

Police reported two dead and 14 wounded, saying that two weapons had also been seized.

“Now everything indicates that there was only one person who committed this act,” police official Tore Barstad told a press briefing.

Police numbers had however been reinforced in the capital to deal with other incidents, he added.

Officers received the first reports at 1:14 am and the suspect was arrested five minutes later, he said.

The shootings happened near the London Pub gay club, the Herr Nilsen jazz club and a takeaway food outlet.

Police officials gathered to consider the impact of the shooting on the staging of Oslo’s Pride March which is due to take place on Saturday afternoon.

Heavily armed police equipped with bulletproof vests and helmets were patrolling the scene of the shootings.

“He looked very determined about where he was aiming. When I realised it was serious, I ran. There was a bleeding man lying on the ground,” a woman who saw the incident told the Verdens Gang newspaper.

Another witness quoted by the paper mentioned the use of an automatic weapon — which the police did not confirm — and described it as “a war zone”.

“There were a lot of injured people on the ground who had head injuries,” he said.

According to an NRK radio journalist present at the time of the shooting, the shooter arrived with a bag from which he pulled out a weapon and started firing.

Among the 14 wounded, eight were taken to hospital and six others were taken care of by medical services.

“Some are described as seriously injured, others as more lightly injured,” said Barstad. 

A generally, peaceful Norway was the scene of bloody attacks on July 22, 2011, when right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people.

He first detonated a bomb near the government headquarters in Oslo, killing eight people. 

He then disguised himself as a policeman and went on a shooting spree at a summer camp for left-wing youth on the island of Utoya, killing another 69 people — most of them teenagers.

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