Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre led Oslo’s annual May 1 parade on Thursday, right after he’d been heckled by pro-Palestinian activists at the city’s huge annual Labour Day rally. Instead of being upset or defiant, though, Støre said he understood their frustration.
The prime minister, who leads Norway’s Labour Party, had just been the last of five speakers at Norway’s largest May 1st event, organized by the country’s largest trade union confederation LO. Labour and political issues are always on the May 1 agenda, but Støre’s speech before thousands was drowned out by the activists. They claimed Norway is profiting on Israel’s relentless attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, through Norwegian investments in Israeli companies.
As some of them rolled out a large protest banner behind the podium where Støre was speaking, others in the crowd below loudly called on Støre to listen to their anguish over how children in Gaza are dying. They made so much noise that Støre stopped speaking himself. His speech resumed only after the leader of the entire event appealed to the demonstrators to “show respect for the last speaker” as they had for those before him.
Their demonstration came just as representatives of Støre’s government were actually testifying at the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Israel’s refusal to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. Norway is among 146 of the 193 countries the United Nations that have recognized Palestine as an independent state and subject to international law. Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik, one of Støre’s state secretaries in the Norwegian foreign ministry, minced few words in his appeal (external link to the Norwegian government’s website) for the court to order Israel to meet its own obligations to cooperate with the United Nations.
“I stand before you at a time when the humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has descended further into a living nightmare,” Kravik said. “In Gaza, a blockade of humanitarian aid and commercial supplies has been in place for 60 days. Despite repeated calls on Israel to lift these measures and to facilitate relief, Israel has instead further tightened, rather than eased, the measures. This is both unconscionable and illegal.”
The demonstrators thus didn’t need to tell Støre that children, along with many others, are dying in Gaza, but he didn’t hold a grudge against them for trying to ruin his own appeal. “This is a large public meeting in Norway with massive engagement, massive Gaza engagement,” Støre told state broadcaster NRK after his speech and before the parade began. “I understand that very well.”
Støre, who lately has enjoyed a surge of voter support in public opinion polls, went on to criticize Oslo’s Conservatives-led government for threatening to close some schools and cut other social services to reduce a looming budget deficit. There were also large groups of demonstrators against the proposed school closures.
The themes of this year’s Labour Day events, meanwhile, were topped by the call to “Strengthen democracy, crush facism” along with “Stop genocide of Palestinians, boycott Israel” and a call for Norway’s sovereign wealth fund to pull out of investments in Israel. Other banners held high during the parade called on Norway to “get out of its oil bubble,” improve Norwegian train service, defend sick pay provisions and reject nuclear weapons.
Rallies and parades were also held all over the country, with the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East a central theme. The president of the Norwegian Parliament, Masud Gharahkhani, spoke in Drammen, Culture Minister Lubna Jaffery was a keynote speaker in Bergen and Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg addressed crowds in Porsgrunn.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund