Lena Andreassen of the Norwegian Defence League addresses the masses
The failure of far-right Islamophobes in Norway to build a united organisation modelled on the EDL is covered in this month’s issue of Searchlight. And now Exposing the English Defence League has drawn our attention to a demonstration against the “Islamic occupation of Norway” organised in Oslo on 9 April by the EDL’s official sister organisation, headed by one Lena Andreassen. As Andreassen explained to Aftenposten, that specific date was chosen to mark the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940, in order to draw a parallel between the occupation of the country by the Nazis and the current supposed invasion by “extreme Islam”.
Alas for Andreassen, her Oslo protest turned out to be a farce. It drew between 10 and 15 participants, one of whom was Darren Lee of the EDL, and was reported in Dagbladet under the mocking headline “Søren, det er jo flere pressefolk her enn oss” (translated by Exposing as “Bugger! There’s more journos here than us!”). An anti-racist counter-demonstration, by contrast, was attended by between 700 and a thousand people.
EDL representative Darren Lee speaking at the Oslo demonstration
Anti-racists demonstrate against the Norwegian Defence League
Infighting wrecks attempts to form Norwegian Defence League
Searchlight, April 2011
By a special correspondent in Oslo
ATTEMPTS TO create a Norwegian version of the English Defence League have run into trouble. Far-right activists clearly thought that what seems to work in England would also succeed in Norway. Instead several factions and aspiring leaders have set up nine different Facebook groups, three with only one member, all claiming to be the true Norwegian Defence League.
The first attempt at doing more than creating a Facebook group came from Åge Strern Sundvor, a long-time loner on the extreme right who has tried to set up several mass movements and churches on the internet, all of which ended up with him and his dog, Garm, as the only members.
After securing the backing of the nazi group Vigrid, Sundvor called for a demonstration in Oslo on 26 February. Anti-racists responded by applying for a demonstration permit and took over the venue of the planned NDL stunt.
Another attempt at forming a Norwegian Defence League came from Ronny Alte from Tensberg, who with some friends created a Facebook group of more than 500 members, including convicted nazis and exiled Russians belonging to the banned Slavic Union.
One of the Russians is Vjoteslav Datsik, who earned his 15 minutes of fame last year when he walked into an Oslo police station and applied for political asylum while waving a handgun. Datsik is in custody awaiting extradition to Russia, where he is wanted by the police after absconding from a mental hospital.
After claiming to have thrown out all the nazis, Alte had difficulty explaining why his group still included Datsik, as well as the convicted nazi bank robber Werner Holm and violent nazi thugs such as Johnny “Light” Olsen”, Morten Andre Serensen and Dariusz Arnesen, all previously connected with the now defunct Norwegian Blood and Honour.
In western Norway, Remi Huseby from Haugesund sounded unconvincing when urging the followers of his NDL to support Israel, bearing in mind his past connection with the rabidly antisemitic Vigrid group. His fellow trade unionists were even less impressed and kicked him out of the Norwegian Transport Union.
Lena Andreassen from Oslo did better. Formerly connected with the circles around the defunct nazi Bootboys group, Andreassen has paid several visits to the EDL in Britain. Alte and Huseby stepped down after Andreassen produced a letter signed by Hel Gower, the personal assistant of the EDL leaders, stating that the EDL had chosen Andreassen’s faction to form a Norwegian sister organisation. The letter also appointed Andreassen’s friend Havar Krane to lead the NDL pending an election.
After this slap in the face, the Sundvor faction closed down its website, urging all its followers to join Stop Islamisation of Norway. Several leading SIAN members have joined Andreassen’s NDL at the same time as giving support to Huseby’s efforts to have his trade union expulsion lifted.
Krane and Andreassen also claim to throw out nazis and run a background check on everyone trying to join their latest Facebook version of the NDL, but this is a lie. The NDL’s “non-racist” alibi, Jon Rosenberg Hagen, a freelance photographer who was adopted from Korea, has been seen hanging out with the Slavic Union. As Hagen is allegedly responsible for security in the NDL, he might have a problem with his credibility.
Unluckily for him, his Russian nazi friend, Evgenij Dyakonov, has published a picture of himself in a friendly pose with Hagen in a restaurant. Dyakonov also poses as a journalist and has been seen around Oslo with his camera, most recently when he ended up in a brawl with anti-racist protesters outside a nazi tattoo studio.
With SIAN activists joining the NDL and activists from the different NDL factions flowing into SIAN, the stage is set for even more vicious skirmishes, even in SIAN whose leader, Arne Tumyr, is considered too old and soft by some of its younger members.