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WORLD NEWS Thursday 10 sepTember 2020
Norwegian lawmaker nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

By JAN M. OLSEN Last year, Trump predict-
Associated Press ed he would win the No-
COPENHAGEN, Denmark bel Prize "for a lot of things
(AP) — An anti-immigrant if they gave it out fairly,
Norwegian lawmaker said which they don't."
Wednesday that he has The Norwegian Nobel
nominated U.S. President Committee doesn't public-
Donald Trump for the Nobel ly comment on nominees.
Peace Prize for his efforts in Under its rules, the informa-
the Middle East. tion is required to be kept
Christian Tybring-Gjedde, secret for 50 years.
a member of the Norwe- Tybring-Gjedde has been
gian parliament for the a member of the Storting,
populist Progress Party, said the Norwegian parliament,
Trump should be consid- since 2005. He is known for
ered because of his work being pro-Israel and for op-
"for a peace agreement posing immigration policies
between the United Arab that he thinks have been
Emirates and Israel which too welcoming.
opens up for possible The lawmaker has often
peace in the Middle East." demanded that immi-
Israel and the United Arab grants adjust to Norwegian
Emirates agreed last month society. He called Muslim
to a historic deal normal- headscarves an "Islamic
izing relations and are In this May 5, 2019 file photo, Norway Member of Parliament Christian Tybring-Gjedde gestures, uniform" and compared
scheduled to sign it at the during the election at FrP's national meeting 2019, in Gardermoen, Norway. Associated Press. them to robes worn by
White House on Sept. 15. members of the Ku Klux
"No matter how Trump acts to the Norwegian No- ceived 318 nominations for someone for the Nobel Klan.
at home and what he says bel Committee by Feb. the Nobel Peace Prize, of Peace Prize. In 2006, he nominated Ay-
at press conferences, he 1, meaning the deadline which 211 are individuals Former U.S. President Barack aan Hirsi Ali, a Dutch-Ameri-
has absolutely a chance to nominate people for and 107 are organizations. Obama was awarded the can activist, writer and poli-
at getting the Nobel Peace this year's peace prize has Tybring-Gjedde was one of prize in 2009 only months tician critical of Islam, for
Prize," Tybring-Gjedde, told passed. two Norwegian lawmakers into his first term, a move the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Associated Press. Nominations can be made who nominated Trump for many felt was premature. The process of considering
He said he nominated by a select group of people the Nobel Peace Prize in The Norwegian committee candidates and award-
Trump on Wednesday for and organizations, includ- 2018 for efforts to bring rec- said it honored Obama for ing the Nobel Peace Prize
the 2021 prize, adding that ing national lawmakers, onciliation between North his commitment to "seek is done in Norway, in con-
"Donald Trump meets the heads of state and certain and South Korea. Any law- the peace and security of trast to the other Nobel
criteria." international institutions. In maker serving in a national a world without nuclear Prizes, which are awarded
Nominations must be sent 2020, the committee re- legislature can nominate weapons." in neighboring Sweden.q

German officials: 1,000s of extremists joined virus protest

By FRANK JORDANS despite advance warnings bols and slogans they were
Associated Press that extremists might try to carrying.
BERLIN (AP) — Thousands enter the Reichstag. He said there were "doubt-
of far-right and anti-gov- A preliminary review of im- less" also people in the
ernment extremists were ages from the protests in- crowd with an affinity for
among the crowds at dem- dicated that "at least 2,500 extremist ideologies but
onstrations against Germa- to 3,000 right-wing extrem- "who couldn't be identi-
ny's coronavirus restrictions ists and Reich Citizens took fied as right-wing extremists
last month that culminated part in the protests," the or Reich Citizens based on
in attempts by some pro- head of Berlin state's intel- their outer appearance."
testers to storm parliament, ligence service, Michael Following the main rally,
German security officials Fischer, told lawmakers in which police estimated
said Wednesday. the capital's regional as- drew almost 40,000 par-
The incident was con- sembly. ticipants, up to 500 people
demned across much of The so-called Reich Citizens gathered in front of the par-
the political spectrum in movement, which disputes liament building, including
Germany, with the presi- the legitimacy of the post- "violence-prone neo-Nazis Police officers push away a crowd of demonstrators from the
dent and other senior offi- World War II German Con- and conspiracy theorists square 'Platz der Republik' in front of the Reichstag building
cials describing the rush on stitution and by extension from the so-called QAnon during a demonstration against the Corona measures in Berlin,
parliament as an assault on the current government, spectrum," Fischer said. Germany, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020.
the heart of democracy. has caused growing con- Fischer acknowledged that Associated Press.
But some lawmakers also cern among security offi- authorities received infor- meeting two days before The events of Aug. 29
criticized the police han- cials in recent years, in part mation in advance of the the event. showed how compatible
dling of the Aug. 29 dem- due to its ties to the far right. protests about some peo- He said officials hadn't fore- the positions of some of
onstrations and that there Fischer said those counted ple calling for the storm- seen that protesters would the anti-mask protesters
were only a handful of of- so far were identified as ing of the Reichstag and actually go through with are with those of anti-gov-
ficers to stand in the way right-wing extremists based that security officials had the plan and called it a ernment extremists, Fischer
of hundreds of protesters on the clothing, flags, sym- discussed the threat at a "spontaneous" incident. said. q