Newspapers: Oslo Must Not Restrict Freedoms

As the disbelief at the sheer scale of Friday's attacks in and around Oslo began to register in Norway, the country's leading newspapers on Saturday urged the Scandinavian nation to maintain its free and trusting culture and not give in to fear following the horrendous and unprecedented acts of violence.
"As we rebuild the government quarters and [Labor Party youth wing] AUF builds up its organization, we will also restore a Norway based on openness and trust," the left-leaning daily Dagbladet said in an editorial.
"Yesterday, tragedy and fear hit Norway," broadsheet Aftenposten said in an editorial. Yet, it said the horror and grief must not make Norwegian society sacrifice its openness and freedom out of fear of new attacks. "It is worth keeping in mind that even countries with extreme security measures and unrestricted police authority are hit by terror," the daily said.
"We shall not have a Norway with new restrictions of freedom of movement, more uniforms, and thus also more interventions in the lives of all those of us who don't want to understand the language of terror," daily Dagbladet said.
Meanwhile, business daily Dagens Naeringsliv said Norway should maintain its open and democratic ways even as Friday's attacks may force the country to rethink its position on security.
"Our open society has...contributed to making us a tempting and easily accessible terrorism target," it said. "It isn't certain that politicians will be able to move around as freely in the streets as they have done until now."
Still, it added: "We need to prove that terrorists are wrong and that we are right. We can only do so by preserving our open and democratic society."
Oslo police on Saturday charged a Norwegian man on suspicion of the bombing and shooting attacks in Norway's capital and a nearby island Friday that left at least 92 people dead and prompted the country's leaders to hold a crisis meeting. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called it a "national tragedy." Police said 85 people, many thought to be teenagers, were killed in the shooting at a summer camp for the AUF, on the island of Utoya. Earlier Friday, a bombing ripped through government offices in the Norwegian capital, killing at least seven people.
Write to Gustav Sandstrom at gustav.sandstrom@dowjones.com