Hundreds of Norwegians plan to join a peace vigil outside an Oslo mosque on Saturday, a week after Muslims and Jews united outside a synagogue there following fatal shootings in Denmark.
“We are a group of people who due to rising fear and polarisation in society want to show that we don’t see Muslims as a threat but as an asset,” organisers of the “ring of solidarity” wrote on Facebook.
“We are glad that Muslims are a part of our society and we feel that they are an exposed minority in Norwegian society,” they added.
At midday Monday nearly 400 people had indicated they would attend the rally to be held outside Oslo’s Jamaat Ahle Sunnat mosque.
The gathering follows Saturday’s vigil outside an Oslo synagogue which drew around 1,300 people in a show of solidarity organised by young Norwegian Muslims.
News of the event spread internationally after the twin attacks in Denmark on a free-speech seminar and a synagogue that killed two people, a Jewish man and a filmmaker.
The gunman was identified as Omar El-Hussein, a Dane of Palestinian origin.
The Danish attacks, which occurred just weeks after gunmen killed 17 people in Paris, raised fears in Nordic countries of heightened tension between religious communities.
In Sweden, organisers are planning a “peace ring” human shield outside Stockholm’s synagogue on Friday.
