Democracy and Free Speech Behind an Iron Cordon in Stavanger

Our Norwegian correspondent The Observer reported last night on the SIAN demonstration in Stavanger, in which the protesters were vastly outnumbered by the “anti-racist” counter-demonstrators, and were contained within an iron police cordon as if they were dangerous terrorists.

The Observer has compiled a more lengthy report based on material from multiple sources, and includes this introduction:

SIAN, the Norwegian branch of Stop the Islamisation of Europe (SIOE), was established on February 16, 2008.

SIAN is rumoured to have about 10,000 Norwegian members (Facebook subscribers). Their strongest local Norwegian branch is in Stavanger. SIAN runs a weekly two-hour show on one of the local radio channels in the city.

Arne Tumyr is the leader of SIAN. He is also a former/current member (possibly leader) of the Norwegian humanist association (atheist organisation). He has previously stated that:

“The Allah-infected brain needs to be scrubbed clean with ammonium.”

That’s pretty hardcore stuff, especially for Norway!

Below is a translated post written by Arne Tumyr about the demonstration in Stavanger yesterday. The original Norwegian version is posted on SIAN’s homepage. It sheds some much-needed light on why so few people attended the demo.

It is a standard tactic of the Left in Norway to announce well in advance its intention to ‘disrupt’ — oops, I mean to ‘arrange counter-demonstrations’ — whenever conservatives in Norway plan to stage demonstrations against immigration, Multiculturalism and Islam.

The Left does this because it serves two purposes:

1.		It sends out a warning to ordinary people that they should stay well clear because the left considers the demonstrations and its organizers to be unpalatable and racist.
2.		It’s a thinly-veiled threat to people that they may be physically attacked, and that they run the risk of being ‘outed’ as evil racists in the media if they show up, which can lead to very unpleasant consequences.

I can’t think of a single ‘announced’ demonstration against immigration and Islam in the last 30 years that hasn’t been ‘disrupted’ by the left, and people in Norway are acutely aware of this fact.

Also worth mentioning about the demonstration in Stavanger is that it was confined to an area of the city which isn’t normally visited by its residents (on the wharf next to a busy ring road and an oil museum). Most political stands are held in the city square, where the counter-demonstration was held, and where shoppers and residents who visit the city centre on the weekend tend to walk past.

In addition to the Tumyr post, I have translated a couple of paragraphs from the article in Aftenbladet, and one comment from the comments section.

From SIAN’s website:

“There is no doubt that ‘New SOS-Racism’ would have attacked Sian and NDL members if the opportunity had arisen”.

NDL and Sian trapped inside police iron cordon

Participants searched

By Arne Tumyr

While 1,000 individuals from politically correct Norway were able to congregate freely in the city square in Stavanger on Saturday, 40 anti-Islamists from the NDL and Sian were literally trapped inside a police iron cordon — which hardly anyone was allowed to pass through. In other words, it was an act of social and operational discrimination by the police. While the 1000 politically correct representatives enjoyed democracy and freedom of expression in all its glory, the anti-Islamists had to accept that this privilege wasn’t granted to them.

The media and the so-called anti-racists took great joy in the fact that so few attended the anti-Islamic demonstration, but they willfully fail to mention that most normal people don’t have the energy to defy an iron-tight police cordon with police checkpoints where body searches are mandatory — just to attend what is basically a political stand. Warning lights should begin to flash, because in this context freedom of speech is lying on a hard wooden bunk — while politically correct Norway has granted Islam and “The Prophet” a bed with silk sheets.

The absurdity of the situation is perhaps best described by “Torstein”:

“I was in Stavanger today. The police were everywhere. A myriad of people waving yellow flags were marching around and causing a commotion. I personally believe that they were a few cents short of a dollar.

“I was one of those who wanted to join the so-called racists that were the source of the terrible pandemonium created by those outside of the police cordon.

“I attempted several times to get through the police barriers and get into the so-called disaster area. Eventually I was escorted by a member of the ‘maintainers of law and order’ to a little ‘confined’ area, where I was searched and had to show my ID. The only thing the ‘authorities’ found that they didn’t appreciate was a box of snuff, but eventually I was allowed to enter, thank God. Inside the police cordon or the ‘catastrophe area’ I was searched once again, and for the second time I had to produce my ID. I also had to ‘report’ to the police before I was allowed back out after the demo. I have never before experienced such ‘concern’ by the authorities for my ‘well-being’. I felt well cared for and looked after inside the war zone.”

It is strange that the local police administrators don’t realize the absurdity of the situation when they allow a group of extremist thugs to recklessly disregard and disrupt peace and order. From the organizers’ point of view, it was unproblematic that a counter-demonstration was held at the city square a kilometer away, but the potential violent element that goes under the new name of “New SOS Racism” should have been told that they had to express their views another day. And if they had decided to show up anyway, screaming and making a commotion, they should have been arrested and locked up during the remainder of the event.

If this had been the case, the police cordon and the police checkpoints could have been removed, and the NDL and SIAN could have been experienced democracy and free speech — maybe the police will see to it that this is the case next time?

Stop the Islamisation of Norway (Sian)

Arne Tumyr
Leader

From Aftenbladet:

Quote 1:

“If you want to prevent the establishment of a Nazi community in Stavanger, it’s meaningless to inflate balloons in the city square and sing songs,” the leader of New SOS Racism in Stavanger Nina Narvestad says.

Narvestad believes that it is more important to confront the NDL and Sian than inflating balloons.

“People should be happy that there are people out there who are willing to confront representatives of Nazi organizations that are attempting to set up shop here in Stavanger. If they are allowed to establish themselves here there are going to be violent attacks on Muslims,” she says.

Quote 2:

“Why do the police protect people like this? No one can deny us the right to resist hate propaganda.

“There are 100 policemen here protecting Nazis who is telling the people of Stavanger that it’s OK to hate Muslims,” Narvestad says.

The article also says that:

Anti-racist organizations from Trondheim, Haugesund, Oslo and Bergen also attended the counter demonstration.

A comment from Aftenbladet reader Axel Christopher L. Aarre:

I was standing behind the police barriers today. When “New SOS Racism” showed up they started shouting “Jewish swine” and “Nazis” at the NDL. Which raises the question. 1. Who are the racists here? 2. Somebody hasn’t read their history books …

Some additional info on SOS-Rasisme:

The organisation has now changed its name to ‘New SOS-Rasisme’ due to the bad press it has been getting in the MSM and because of the organization’s systematic fraudulently appropriation of public grants. The new organization is, however, still controlled by the same people who controlled the old SOS-Rasisme. It is also worth remembering that SOS-Rasisme infiltrated the NDL and practically built up the organization from scratch just so they could have an arch-enemy to demonize: