June 5, 2012
The former NDL leader, Alte took the witness stance today explaining how people who are critical of Muslims are harassed. He was a leader of the organization about a year before he reigned due to disagreement on how to distance the NDL from the terrorist attacks on July 22, 2011.
”I wanted to disassociate us (the NDL from the attacks). It was a small fraction of the organization(‘s leadership) that did not want that.
Alte also claims that there are several groups which name themselves Knights Templar – “one of them Breivik calls his own (group)”.
“There are also many, not very serious groups, which call themselves Knights Templar on internet. So it is really impossible for me to know which version (of these groups) he would belong to. To be sure, there are extreme foreign (right) groups out there.”
He says that it is easy to be demonized if you a member of the NDL by being exposed with publication of name and picture. “NDL is a group which focuses on (fighting) the society’s adoption of Islamic values. This is a grass-root movement”, says Alte.
He agrees with Breivik’s viewpoints; however, he claims, it is extremely difficult to get these message out (to the public). “The situation will not be easier after this (the attack on July 22). He blames the media which toss and turn the image of the NDL, in order to portray it in the negative light. “The freedom of expression is not for all”.
His everyday life is, he claims, filled with difficulties. He does not leave his home without a bulletproof vest. He even claims that the police authorities had stopped him several times in order to deliberately hurt him.
The prosecutor asked Alte about numbers of those who are supportive of the mass murder last year in the NDL milieu. He answers that”there are few who support Breivik’s actions. What comes out in the internet forums are just words. I personally disagree with those who support the attacks. I am careful to point to any numbers here since I have no data on this. But I can claim that there are no more than 100 individuals who support Breivik’s actions.” Moreover, Alte argues, that 99.9 percent of the English Defense League (EDL) condemns the attacks.
“There are very few people in Norway (who support the mass murder). I have good relationship with people from the EDL and other Islam-critical circles. The majority of those people are non-violent and we consider democracy as a part of the solution. I am convinced that we can solve these problems without using violence.”
