March of Roses

We attended Amnesty’s non-political March of Roses yesterday, and the attendance was overwhelming — both to us and to the arrangers. The city was sold out of roses, and when I went to the florist he just gave me a bouquet and said I could pay later if I wanted to.

After a lot of waiting the program started at 7 p.m. with appeals from the Crown Prince of Norway, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Labour Party Youth Party (AUF) who was targeted at Utøya, and the Mayor of Oslo. It was a pro-democracy and non-political atmosphere, and at the end of the show we all sang Til Ungdommen (To The Youth) by Nordahl Grieg. It was a very nice ceremony, and the message from the people of Oslo and Norway was clear: We will face hatred with love, and fascism with solidarity. Freedom is greater than fear.

Rose March I
People of all creeds and races met in central Oslo Monday 25th, to express our sympathy with the victims of Friday’s terror attack and their families, everyone carrying a rose or other flowers.

Rose March II

Rose March III

Rose March IV
An ocean of people showed up spontaneously, the city was sold out of flowers, and it was a good demonstration of solidarity altogether.

Rose March VI

Rose March IX

Roses in the wall I

Roses in the wall III
After the demonstration, people put flowers down everywhere, here in the cracks of an old wall, colouring Oslo city with our solidarity.

Flowers in front of the cathedral I
We went to the Oslo Cathedral (Oslo Domkirke) to put down flowers afterwards. It took 20 minutes to get through the crowd..

Wall of Flowers III
People had left a wall of flowers near the bomb site too. You can see the govt building in the far back..

Wall of Flowers IV

Arbeiderpartiet (the Labor Party Building)
One of the targets for the attack was the Labor Party. Here’s a very special photo I took of the AP (labor party) building with windows blown in from the terror bomb blast

Roses and Flowers Everywhere
Roses and flowers were everywhere

There are more pictures available here:

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