Calls for Norway’s PM to quit over Breivik errors

Norway’s prime minister faced calls to resign yesterday after an official report said police could have prevented the murder spree by far-right militant Anders Behring Breivik last year in which 77 people died.

A commission said intelligence service and police blunders allowed Breivik to carry out his crimes last July unimpeded.

“A more devastating verdict on our government could not have been made,” newspaper VG said, calling for premier Jens Stoltenberg to resign.

“The government failed to protect the people because of incompetence. It would be intolerable if this didn’t have personal consequences for the people involved,” it added.

Daily DN also laid responsibility for the failings on the prime minister, saying he delayed approving security measures that could have prevented the attack.

However, fallout from the report is seen as unlikely to bring down the government, which has so far successfully guided Norway’s economy through Europe’s turbulence.