2008–2009 Oslo anti-Israel riots

The 2009 Oslo riots started on 29 December 2008 when a group of young Palestinians broke out of a peaceful demonstration outside the Israeli embassy and started throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks on the embassy and the police . The police quickly managed to calm down this riot and four young people in the ages of 16–25 were arrested. All of the arrested youth had Palestinian background and two of them were refugees living in a local refugee camp . On 4 January 2009 the riots broke out again. Some hundreds were gathered around the Storting for a peaceful and legal demonstration. After they were done outside of the Storting they moved up to the Israeli embassy in Parkveien. There the police deemed the demonstration illegal, and people who did not disperse would be arrested. Most of the adults in the crowd then moved away from the area. The rest of the crowd then started to fire fireworks on the police and the embassy. The police managed to get control of the riot when they fired tear gas on the rioting youth. On 8 January there was a legal pro-Israel demonstration outside the Storting. The police took measures and there was an estimate of 200 police officers present in the area of Spikersuppa in downtown Oslo . Before the demonstration the police went out in papers and said that they were worried about trouble and riots. Because a prominent politician, Siv Jensen , was to give a speech that was to be pro Israel. The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) also stated that they had taken measures to secure Siv Jensen under the speech. In the middle of Siv Jensen's speech the riots broke out when pro-Palestinian activists started throwing rocks against the pro-Israeli activists. Siv Jensen had to leave the podium where she held the speech because the police feared for her security. The police started using tear gas against the rioting people when they attacked a bus who tried to get the pro Israeli activists out of the area (there were many elderly people in the Israeli part of the crowd). According to politicians in the Storting, people also tried to escape inside the Storting, but they had to lock the doors because tear gas from the police started to enter the Storting. At least four McDonald's restaurants were destroyed in the riots because of a rumor spreading by text message that all the money McDonald's earned that day would go to support Israel . This was later confirmed to be a fake. The police arrested a total of 160 people during the riots, and 11 of these where formally charged with violent behavior and damage to private and public property. The rest of the arrested pled not guilty to any charges. The police stated that they would investigate all of the arrested and that most of them would receive a fine of 9000 NOK (around 1300 USD). The police later stated that most of the arrested people were between the ages of 16 and 25. In his book The Anti-Jewish Riots in Oslo , Norwegian author and editor Eirik Eiglad wrote: As far as I can judge, these were the largest anti-Jewish riots in Norwegian history. Even before and during World War II, when anti-Semitic prejudices were strong, public policies were discriminatory, and the Nazified State Police efficiently confiscated Jewish property and deported Jews on that despicable slave ship SS Donau - even then, Norway had not seen anti-Jewish outbursts of this scale. This country had no previous history of wanton anti-Jewish mass violence.¹ Among other slogans, protesters shouted "Death to the Jews," "Kill the Jews" and "Slaughter the Jews" in Arabic .² "Fire i arrest etter demonstrasjon mot Israel" (in Norwegian). "Pågrepne demonstranter nekter for alt" (in Norwegian). Jewish Political Studies Review . 22 ( 1– 2). Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. : CS1 maint: year ( link )³