Police in Oslo are investigating a recent stabbing at a popular outdoor bar and restaurant as a hate crime aimed at a gay couple. Four suspects, all under the age of 18 and all repeat offenders, are charged with aggravated assault connected to a new wave of random violence.
“This is an extremely serious case and police are investigating it with high priority,” stated prosecutor Marie Steen Habberstad. The assaults on two men, who’d been eating dinner at an outdoor restaurant in a fashionable waterfront complex at Tjuvholmen on Oslo’s west side, are viewed as unprovoked and were carried out in full public view.
All four teenagers involved were quickly arrested. Two of them, both age 17, are also charged with recently robbing a 15-old-boy during the annual Norway Cup football tournament. The robbery was carried out on Oslo’s main boulevard, Karl Johans Gate, in broad daylight on July 30.
The 17-year-olds were accompanied last weekend by two others, aged 14 and 15, when they attacked the two men from Larvik who’d been dining at the outdoor area of the Bølgen og Moi restaurant. Police later confirmed that the boys voiced hateful comments linked to the men’s sexual orientation, in addition to stabbing and hitting them. Both men were hospitalized and the stabbing victim underwent surgery. Their lawyer Sigurd Ihlen told newspaper Aftenposten that the men were traumatized by the attack but were in stable condition by mid-week.
Police have reported that the two 17-year-olds are also either charged or suspected of being behind a series of robberies and assaults that began in April. Since they’re both minors, the police and courts have been restricted regarding punishment but the offenders had been ordered not to visit downtown Oslo. They disregarded that order, however, and are now being held in custody in a prison for adults, one of them in a high-security area, according to state broadcaster NRK. The two younger boys who accompanied the 17-year-olds were turned over to child protective services.
Authorities have been trying to crack down on gang violence in Oslo, and on random juvenile violence, but efforts haven’t been effective. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of the Labour Party promised again this week to tackle youth crime, but it just keeps rising along with hate crimes.
“This is completely unacceptable,” Støre told newspaper VG. “People should be and feel safe in Norway. We must be tough against crime and we must confront the reasons for crime.” He thinks young criminals must face the consequences of their actions, through “immediate measures meant to address the negative development that hurts both themselves and others.”
Calls are going out to lower the age limit for criminal responsibility, currently 15, while others argue that’s the wrong solution. “The debate over youth crime has become too one-sided,” Stian Lid, who specializes in criminology and conducts research at Oslo Met, told Aftenposten.
Criminal offenders under age 15 can’t be punished if they violate the law. They’re instead turned over to child protective serves (Barnevernet), even as the crime rate among those under 15 rises. The biggest rise was seen among boys aged 10 and 14, many of whom are suspeted of being recruited by gangs specifically because they can’t be charged.
“If you’re old enough to commit a crime, you’re old enough to go to prison,” claimed Oda Oline Omdal of the Young Conservatives this week. The right-wing Progress Party wants to lower the age for criminal responsibility to 14, while Labour wants to keep it at 15 and so do the Greens, claiming like Lid that a lower age won’t solve the problem. The Greens would rather strengthen preventative measures, boost social support for vulnerable youth and “create a more inclusive society.”
Lid told Aftenposten that “we need to succeed at an earlier point, before they commit crimes.” He thinks the most important work must be carried out in their local neighbourhoods, both by city officials and volunteer organizations, with consistent funding. If programs aimed at preventing youth from getting involved with gangs or otherwise committing crimes are launched, only to be halted because of budget cuts, “it’s difficult to built up confidence among youth.”
Officials are also concerned about potential infiltration by Swedish gangs, which also can try to recruit vulnerable or troubled Norwegian youth. Police in Denmark fear that’s already happening, after three Swedish teenagers were arrested and tied to shooting episodes in Denmark in the course of just one week.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
