Norway remembers victims of bomb, shooting attacks
By JULIA GRONNEVETBy JULIA GRONNEVET, Associated Press?
?Norwegian King Harald, right, and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, center, attend a memorial ceremony for the victims of bombings and shooting near the site of a heavily damaged building by the bomb attack, in Oslo, Norway, Sunday July 22, 2012. Norway marked the first anniversary of the bombing in government buildings in Oslo, and shooting dead of youths at a Labor Party youth camp on Utoeya island. (AP Photo/NTB Scanpix, Roald Berit) NORWAY OUT
Norwegian King Harald, right, and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, center, attend a memorial ceremony for the victims of bombings and shooting near the site of a heavily damaged building by the bomb attack, in Oslo, Norway, Sunday July 22, 2012. Norway marked the first anniversary of the bombing in government buildings in Oslo, and shooting dead of youths at a Labor Party youth camp on Utoeya island. (AP Photo/NTB Scanpix, Roald Berit) NORWAY OUT
Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit, left, and Crown Prince Haakon, right, attend a memorial ceremony for the victims of bombings and shooting near the site of a heavily damaged building by the bomb attack, in Oslo, Norway, Sunday July 22, 2012. Norway marked the first anniversary of the bombing in government buildings in Oslo, and shooting dead of youths at a Labor Party youth camp on Utoeya island. (AP Photo/NTB Scanpix, Lise Aserud) NORWAY OUT
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, foreground left, and King Harald, foreground right, attend a memorial ceremony near a site of a government building heavily damaged by a bomb attack, in Oslo, Norway, Sunday, July 22, 2012. Norway will hold a memorial service today to mark the first anniversary of the bombing in government buildings in Oslo, and shooting dead of youths at a Labor Party youth camp on Utoeya island. (AP Photo/NTB Scanpix, Berit Roald, Pool)
Norwegian Royal family members attend a memorial service at a venue near the site of a bombing which destroyed a government building, in Oslo, Norway, July 22, 2012. Norway holds a memorial service early Sunday to mark the first anniversary of the bombing in government buildings in Oslo, and shooting dead of youths at a Labor Party youth camp on Utoeya island. The attendees are from left.,Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Crown Prince Haakon, wife of Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg's wife, Ingrid Schulerud, Queen Sonja, Prime Minister Stoltenberg and King Harald. (AP Photo/NTB Scanpix, Tor Erik Schroeder) NORWAY OUT
Norwegian King Harald, right, and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, left, are framed through a wreath as they attend a memorial ceremony near a site of a heavily damaged government building following a bomb attack, in Oslo, Norway, Sunday July 22, 2012. Norway marked the first anniversary of the bombing in government buildings in Oslo, and shooting dead of youths at a Labor Party youth camp on Utoeya island. (AP Photo/NTB Scanpix, Berit Roald, Pool)
OSLO, Norway (AP) ? Norway on Sunday paused to commemorate the 77 victims of a bomb and gun massacre that shocked the peaceful nation one year ago, a tragedy that the prime minister said had brought Norwegians together in defense of democracy and tolerance.
Anders Behring Breivik, a 33-year-old far-right fanatic, has admitted to the July 22, 2011, attacks: a bombing of the government district in Oslo, killing eight, and a shooting rampage that left 69 dead at the left-wing Labor Party's youth camp on Utoya island.
In a wreath-laying ceremony at the bomb site, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said Breivik had failed in his declared goal of destroying Norway's commitment to being an inclusive, multicultural society.
"The bomb and the gun shots were meant to change Norway," Stoltenberg told a somber crowd of a few hundred people at the ceremony. "The Norwegian people answered by embracing our values. The perpetrator lost. The people won."
Tarps were still covering the windows of bomb-damaged buildings on the plaza, and large cement road blocks stop all but pedestrian traffic. Mounted police and officers with bomb-sniffing dogs were on the site, but the security was not overbearing, as if to show that Norway was still an open society.
The police investigation showed Breivik set off a fertilizer bomb that tore the facade of the high-rise that housed the government's headquarters, and drove toward Utoya unhindered as chaos reigned in the capital. Arriving on Utoya disguised as a police officer and armed with a handgun and assault rifle, he unleashed a shooting massacre that sent panicked teenagers fleeing into a chilly lake or hiding behind rocks to save their lives. More than half of the victims were teenagers ? the youngest had turned 14 five days earlier.
Survivors were gathering for a private ceremony on the island Sunday, while Norway's royal family and government leaders attended a church service in Oslo, where a memorial concert was planned later in the day.
During the 10-week trial that ended in June, Breivik admitted to the attacks, but declined criminal guilt out of principle, saying the victims were traitors for embracing immigration and making Norway a multicultural society.
Prosecutors said Breivik was psychotic and should be sent to compulsory psychiatric care while Breivik's defense lawyers argued that he was sane. The Oslo district court is set to deliver its ruling on Aug. 24.
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