Norway holds a national ceremony of remembrance on Sunday for the 77 victims of the worst attacks on the country since World War Two, as it tries to move forward and return to something like normality.
Anti-immigration zealot Anders Behring Breivik has admitted to last month's bombing in central Oslo and shootings at a Labour Party youth camp on Utoeya island outside the capital.
The ceremony, to take place at an Oslo concert hall at 1300 GMT, will include speeches by King Harald and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and performances by pop band a-ha and other Norwegian artists.
"It will be good for people to have a final, national memorial - for now," said 21-year-old Adrian Pracon, who was shot by Breivik on Utoeya island but survived.
"It will never be really final because we will be reminded of what happened every day, every year," he told Reuters. "But right now this could maybe close up this whole thing and maybe let us, as participants, say 'we are now moving on'. We need to move on."
Pracon was one of a group of survivors and their relatives who returned to the sites of the attacks for the first time on Saturday.
About 6,000 people are expected to attend Sunday's ceremony, including relatives of the victims, survivors, police and emergency personnel who dealt with the attacks.
The Norwegian royal family, the presidents of Finland and Iceland, Swedish Crown Princess Victoria and Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik are expected to attend too. Before the concert, the Norwegian royal family and some government ministers will also lay flowers at Oslo cathedral. The names of the victims of the attacks will be read by five prominent Norwegian actors.
Comments
Comments are closed.