Norway’s director of public prosecution is to open a new inquiry against neo-Nazi leader Tore W. Tvedt for his call “to cleanse Norway of Jews”.
When Tvedt first published his appeal for “A Norway clean of Jews” in April 2002, the prosecution ruled that the comment did not breach the law of freedom of speech.
“I am glad that this decision has now being reconsidered,” Henrik Lunde, head of an anti-racism centre in Oslo, told the daily “Aftenposten”.
“It proves that public opinion can no longer tolerate such ideas,” he added.
Speaking to the daily “Verdens Gang”, public prosecutor Johan Oeydegard confirmed that the investigation against Tvedt is taking place but did not say what its focus would be.
He added that the prosecution will try to round up the investigation as soon as possible.
Links to criminal organisations
Reports in the Norwegian press in the last few days say that police are inquiring into the connections between Tvedt and Vigrid, a neo-Nazi organisation very active among youngsters in Norway. They aqre also investigating into the links with a criminal motorcycle gang called “MC-gangs.”
The head of Norway’s anti-Nazism committee, Ola Melbye Pettersen, said: “It’s about time that Vigrid be stopped by legal action.”
“Vigrid has nothing to do with ‘freedom of speech’ or ‘folk-religion’. It is a classic neo-Nazi organisation that uses different covers to establish a pure Nazi-system in Norway,” he said.
He told Norwegian TV that Vigrid spreads racism by calling for ethnic cleansing, that is gives arms trainings and cooperates with other criminal organisations.
Racism on internet
Besides its, Vigrid’s organisation is also active on internet with a racist site designed to attract students and schoolchildren. Virgrid’s online “information centre” tells visitors that the Holocaust was “only Jewish propaganda” and it never took place.
Hitler is also praised as Europe’s greatest statesman, “who bravely fought against Russian communism in Eastern Europe and Jewish capitalism in Western Europe”.
It is estimated that four or five pupils a week visit the “information centre”.
