Norwegian authorities closed the Oslo parliament to the public this Wednesday due to repeated threats against the institution, although lawmakers continued to work in the morning, police said.
Parliament received the first threatening email on Tuesday evening, which was not considered credible, but after receiving more threats on Wednesday morning, police decided to close the building in central Oslo.
“This threat does not say much, but it is worded in such a way that we cannot risk taking it lightly,” Oslo police chief of operations Sven Christian Lie said at a news conference.
“There is nothing dramatic at this stage,” he said, as quoted by the French news agency AFP.
Lee added that he was unable to say whether there was a connection between the two threats.
According to Norwegian media, the reports included bomb threats, but Lee did not confirm this information.
Police set up a security cordon around parliament and public access was closed, but work inside the building continued as normal throughout the morning.
MPs received messages from the administration, one of which said there was no indication that “being inside the Storting” (as the Norwegian parliament is called) was dangerous.
The next parliamentary meeting is scheduled for Thursday morning.
Television images showed heavily armed, helmeted police positioned around the building while dog teams searched the surrounding area.
Police did not provide additional information about the threats, motive or origin.
Norwegian police are not normally armed but were authorized to use weapons from March 27 to April 2, the Easter period, without changing the threat level, which is currently moderate.