OVER a 1,000 Norwegian bikers from outlaw gangs joined together in a momentous truce on Tuesday to lay flowers on the shore facing the island of Utøya were 68 youths killed in Anders Behring Breivik's shooting massacre.
Marking the first time the Hell’s Angels, Coffin Cheaters and Outlaws and ride side-by-side, amongst this peaceful ride was Henrik Bauer Larsen, who said: “These groups are not friends. Normally, they fight tough — but we agreed there would be no politics here, that everyone would stand together.
“We just want to pay our respects to the victims and their families.”
550 riders had come from the Norwegian Motorcycle Union, a Harley Davidson crew that runs a convoy once a year to mark a major event. Hundreds more joined from Bergen and other cities. “The truce won’t last,” Larsen admitted, “but even the police bikers wanted to join in.” The run was organised through a Facebook invitation set-up on Sunday.
“They cleared our way from Oslo out to Sundvolden, and arranged for us to have space for the bikes out here so we could go down to the shore,” said Hansen.
“It’s the biggest bike convoy in Nordic history,” he added, “People have come from all over Scandinavia and people on their holidays have joined in on the road.” Another rider, Christian Andre, added that everyone wanted “to pay our respects to the victims of this crazy, crazy man.”