"Tonight Our Streets Are Filled With Love"

Friday afternoon changed our lives forever. As a people. As a nation. As humans. In my beautiful, beloved and proud Norway we have just faced the worst 3 days in the history of our country. Days, hours and minutes filled with shock. Grief. Fear. Anger. But also - and most importantly - love. So much of it, it has moved and touched people not only here at home, but across the world. Tonight, as we mourned and remembered and came together, our streets were filled with love.



Nobody is still unaware of the horrific twin events that took place in Norway last Friday, on July 22. The bombing in Oslo city and the massacre on the island of Utøya shook us, and the world, to our core. The horrific and gruesome events that took the lives of so many will forever be a day we will all remember. And grieve. How one man's hate could cause so much pain and end in such gruesome ways is hard for anyone to comprehend. But tonight, as Norway honor those we lost and wow to answer his hate with even more humanity, care and togetherness, our streets are filled with love.



Friday afternoon, after the bomb had gone off, Oslo city centre was a place of shock and confusion. And fear. These things don't happen in our peaceful and peacemaking part of the world. I was in the middle of it and made it home. Safe, sounds and lucky. The images that flashed across our TV screens showed a city that looked nothing like the city we know. Scenes that would not have been out of place in a war movie. Scenes that made us recoil in horror and reach out in need. When news broke of the tragic and gruesome shootings at Utøya that followed, nobody could fully believe this nightmare was happening in our peaceful little land.



I was up watching the news - like the rest of the country - till late Friday night. Still not able to comprehend and digest the images, the horror and the violence. We cherish our democratic nation in Norway. Our closeness and openness in society. Our peacemaking and peaceful people. Our values. Our respect. Our country. This, in the city that hands out the Nobel Peace Prize, was impossible to understand. Waking up Saturday morning to the nightmare that had turned out to not only be one horrific attack, but two, when numbers killed on Utøya had risen to over 80 young people, was heartbreaking. For us. For everyone. For the whole world.



Shock and grief united us. As the killer was identified (I choose not to mention his name, as publicity is what he craves, yet so is not worthy of), we were again left speechless. One man, filled with so much hate, capable of such atrocious actions, we were left wondering how? And why? And What will happen next. Lucky, what he wanted, didn't happen next. Hate did not flourish. Fear did not prevail. Because love is what happened next. We, the strong, amazing and loving people of my beautiful and beloved homeland, answered his hate with love. With togetherness. With tolerance. With openness. With democracy. And with love. Tonight, across the country, our streets were filled with love.



Tonight, as everyone; families, friends, heads of state, the Royal family, the governmental leaders, visiting tourists, young children, teenagers, mothers and fathers, everyone across the land, met to show each other support and comfort and togetherness after a weekend of disbelief, sorrow and grief, tonight, we filled our land with love.



Tonight I stood, with my too-young-to-understand daughter, outside Oslo Cathedral, in a sea of flowers and flags and burning lights, and I knew that he will never win. One man filled with hate will not - and will never - be stronger or more powerful that hundreds of thousands filled with love. The share magnitude and volume of people that filled the streets of Oslo was humbling and amazing. The sense of calm. Of respect. Of togetherness. Of strong pride for our nation and our people touched everyone there. Young, old, black, white, united across borders and religions and color, we filled the streets of Oslo - and everywhere - with love.




As people started to leave the city, the Cathedral and the streets, the roses they carried were placed all around our beautiful city. On statues and fountains, on postboxes and bicycles. On the windscreen wipers of police cars and ambulances. In fountains, along bridges, on traffic lights and roadsigns. Roses were left in doorways. By broken windows. In the wire safety fences set up by the police to secure the bomb zone. It was a beautiful and moving and powerful sight. Norway did not come out to rally and rant and hate. We came out, and filled the streets with love.



A German newspaper wrote so accurately and beautiful: "Even in their deepest sorrow the Norwegians don't get hysterical. They resist the hate. It is amazing to see how politicians and the whole country react. They are sad to the deepest thread of their souls. They cry in dignity. But nobody swears to take revenge. Instead they want even more humanity and democracy. That is one of the most remarkable strengths of that little country."



MY little country. Our little country. Our children's little country. I am moved and touched and so deeply proud to be Norwegian tonight. Because, as ministers and royals and survivors and mourners and wounded alike has stated: We will not be scared into fear. We will not be forced into hate. Instead, and because we are who we are, Norway will answer this terror with even more openness. More tolerance. More democracy. More political participation. More peace. And more love. So much so that we will not just say it, or think it or plan it, but go out, and fill our streets, our country and our people with love.




My deepest and most heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.