Last Friday's terror attacks in Norway, Norwegian police intelligence had warned of rising activity in far-right but the chief of Norwegian did not take it as danger for Norway.
it was reported that there were killed at least 91 people, has been identified in media reports as Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year old with right-wing extremist and anti-Muslim views.
The Norwegian Police Security Service, or PST, in an annual threat assessment published in March, said "a higher degree of activism in groups hostile to Islam may lead to an increased use of violence."
PST also noted an "increase in the activity of far-right extremist circles in 2010," and said, "This activity is expected to continue in 2011."
However, the security service viewed Islamist extremism as a larger threat and concluded that far-right fringe groups or individuals wouldn't constitute a major threat against Norwegian society.
The rhetoric has become harder in fringe groups, Kari Helene Partapuoli, director of the nongovernmental Norwegian Centre against Racism, said in a discussion about immigration and Islam in Norway,
"A lot of people [have] warned against that. But at the same time, no one saw anything like this coming," Ms. Partapuoli told Dow Jones Newswires. She noted that the extreme-right movement in Norway is small and lacks the kind of organization it has in several other European countries, including neighboring Sweden. The lack of leading figures was also cited by PST as a factor hampering the growth of organized right-wing extremism.
However, anti-Islam and anti-immigration sentiment has been on the rise across Europe, including in Scandinavia. Last Friday's terror attacks in Norway, Norwegian police intelligence had warned of rising activity in far-right but the chief of Norwegian did not take it as danger for Norway.
it was reported that there were killed at least 91 people, has been identified in media reports as Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year old with right-wing extremist and anti-Muslim views.
The Norwegian Police Security Service, or PST, in an annual threat assessment published in March, said "a higher degree of activism in groups hostile to Islam may lead to an increased use of violence."
PST also noted an "increase in the activity of far-right extremist circles in 2010," and said, "This activity is expected to continue in 2011."
However, the security service viewed Islamist extremism as a larger threat and concluded that far-right fringe groups or individuals wouldn't constitute a major threat against Norwegian society.
The rhetoric has become harder in fringe groups, Kari Helene Partapuoli, director of the nongovernmental Norwegian Centre against Racism, said in a discussion about immigration and Islam in Norway,
"A lot of people [have] warned against that. But at the same time, no one saw anything like this coming," Ms. Partapuoli told Dow Jones Newswires. She noted that the extreme-right movement in Norway is small and lacks the kind of organization it has in several other European countries, including neighboring Sweden. The lack of leading figures was also cited by PST as a factor hampering the growth of organized right-wing extremism.
However, anti-Islam and anti-immigration sentiment has been on the rise across Europe, including in Scandinavia.
