Forty thousand Norwegians flooded the streets of Oslo in the pouring rain to defy mass murderer Anders Breivik after he derided the popular children's song “Children of the Rainbow” as a Marxist tool to brainwash children.
The size of the crowd meant that an amazing one in every fifteen of Oslo's 613,000 residents showed up to the rally.Underneath a canopy of umbrellas in Oslo’s central square, tens of thousands sang the 1970s children’s song, which celebrates the very multicultural world Breivik so despises. Similar demonstrations were held throughout the country, in the social media-organized event.After singing, people walked several blocks to the courthouse where Breivik is currently on trail, laying roses on the steps of the courthouse and the building's security fence in memory of those he killed in a bombing and shooting rampage last summer.Inside the court, the 33-year-old far-right extremist, who killed 77 people, remained emotionless as survivors spoke of the horror he had unleashed.While giving testimony last Friday, Breivik cited the song as an example of how the Norwegian school system is an “indoctrination camp” for “cultural Marxism."He also directed venom at Lillebjørn Nilsen for his rendition of the tune, saying “he is a good example of a Marxist who infiltrated the cultural sector; he writes music that is used to brainwash children."“Children of the Rainbow” is a Norwegian adaptation of American folksinger Pete Seeger’s 1973 track “My Rainbow Race.” "Breivik has used it as an example of brainwashing, but it is rather an example of the opposite," Reuters cites Christine Bar, one of the organizers who launched the event on Facebook, as saying."We think it represents diversity, and it stands for the community we have chosen to live in – and which Breivik and similar people want to tear down."Breivik detonated a bomb near the government headquarters in Oslo last July, killing eight people. He then went on to kill another 69 people, mostly teenagers, at a Labor Party youth camp on nearby Utoya Island.Breivik claims he carried out the attacks in self-defense, in a bid to protect Norway from multiculturalism – and an impending “Muslim invasion.”If he is found to be sane, Breivik faces a maximum sentence of 21 years in prison. If declared insane, he would be kept in a psychiatric institute for as long as he is considered ill.