Breivik wanted to bring about ‘revolution’

THE man responsible for the attacks on Norway’s government headquarters and an island retreat for young people that left at least 93 dead was motivated by a desire to bring about a revolution in society, his lawyer said yesterday.

A manifesto he published online the same day of the attack — which police are poring over — ranted against Muslim immigration and vowed revenge on “indigenous Europeans”, whom he accused of betraying their heritage.

The manifesto said they would be punished for their “treasonous acts”.

The lawyer for Anders Behring Breivik, 32, said his client wrote the document alone. While police said they were investigating reports of a second assailant on the island, his lawyer, Geir Lippestad, said Breivik also claims no one helped him.

The treatise detailed plans to acquire firearms and explosives, and even appeared to describe a test explosion: “BOOM! The detonation was successful!!!”

It ends with a note dated 12.51pm, July 22: “I believe this will be my last entry.”

That day, Friday, a car bomb killed seven people in downtown Oslo and, hours later, a gunman dressed as a policeman opened fire on 600 young people at a retreat on Utoya island.

The death toll from the shooting stood at 86 last night. More than 90 people were wounded and there are still people missing from both scenes.

Police said yesterday that a policeman had been hired to provide security on the island on his own time. It was unclear who hired him or if he was on the island at the time of the attacks.

Dr Colin Poole, head of surgery at Ringriket Hospital in Honefoss, north-west of Oslo, said the gunman used special ‘dum-dum’ bullets designed to disintegrate inside the body and cause maximum internal damage.

Poole said surgeons treating 16 gunshot victims have recovered no full bullets.

“These bullets more or less exploded inside the body,” Poole said. “It’s caused us all kinds of extra problems in dealing with the wounds they cause, with very strange trajectories.”

Ballistics experts say the so-called dum-dum bullets are lighter in weight and can be fired with greater accuracy over varying distances. They are commonly used by air marshals and hunters.

Police also revealed that Breivik still had “a considerable amount” of ammunition for both his guns — a pistol and an automatic weapon — when he surrendered.

Breivik confessed to the twin attacks, according to Lippestad and police, but denied criminal responsibility for a day that shook Norway to its core.

Breivik has been charged with terrorism and will be arraigned today.

Lippestad said his client has asked for an open court hearing “because he wants to explain himself”.

“He wanted a change in society and, from his perspective, he needed to force through a revolution,” Lipp-estad told public broadcaster NRK. “He wished to attack society and the structure of society.”

Lippestad said Breivik spent years writing the 1,500-page manifesto entitled 2083 — A European Declaration of Independence.

The date was referred to later in the document as the year that coups d’état would engulf Europe and overthrow the elite he maligns.

As authorities pursued the suspect’s motives, Oslo mourned the victims.

Norway’s King Harald V, his wife, Sonja, and prime minister Jens Stoltenberg crowded into Oslo cathedral, where people spilled into the plaza outside.

The king and queen both wiped tears from their eyes during the service for “sorrow and hope”.

Afterwards, people sobbed and hugged one another in the streets, as many lingered over the memorial of flowers and candles. The royal couple and prime minister later visited the site of the bombing in Oslo.

Both the car bomb and the island massacre were linked to Norway’s left-leaning Labour Party.

Breivik’s manifesto pillories the political correctness of liberals and warns that their work will end in the colonisation of Europe by Muslims.

Norway has grown increasingly multicultural in recent years as it has opened its arms to thousands of refugees from Pakistan, Iraq and Somalia.

The Labour Party retreat — which the prime minister fondly recalled attending summer after summer himself — reflected the country’s changing demographic as the children of immigrants get more involved in politics.

European security officials said they were aware of increased internet chatter from individuals claiming they belonged to the Knights Templar group that Breivik refers to in the manifesto.

They said they were still investigating claims that Breivik and other far-right individuals attended a London meeting of the group in 2002, but didn’t confirm if they had been aware of Breivik as a potential threat.