Police intervene at anti-racism protest in Oslo

Police detained two people and removed three others during an anti-racism demonstration in central Oslo on Saturday, as around 100 protesters gathered outside a venue hosting a conference by the far-right party Norgesdemokratene, Dagbladet reports.

According to operations manager Svein Christian Lie of the Oslo Police District, the group assembled near Rosenkrantz gate around 13:30. The situation remained largely calm, but authorities took action after some demonstrators failed to follow police instructions on where to stand.

By late afternoon, the protest had thinned to about 50 people. Police declined to specify the duration of the conference.

The event, held at the Håndverkeren venue, focused on the mass deportation of immigrants and featured controversial speakers, including Austrian anti-immigration activist Martin Sellner and German politician Lena Kotré of the far-right AfD party. Kotré was previously evacuated by police during a similar event in Oslo last autumn due to strong protests.

Sofia Rana, an advisor at the Anti-Racist Centre, criticized the conference, stating that its themes of “remigration” masked an agenda of ethnic cleansing. Norgesdemokratene’s deputy leader Øyvind Eikrem rejected the accusation, describing the event as a discussion on restoring national control over demographic composition.