Memorial divides survivors 10 years after Norway massacre

A memorial to the victims remains a construction site on the 10th anniversary of the July 22 attack that killed 77 people in Norway

STAVANGER, Norway -- At 3:25 p.m. on July 22, a ray of sun should have illuminated the first of 77 bronze columns on a slice of land opposite Utoya island outside Norway's capital. Over the next three hours and eight minutes, it would have brushed each column in turn, commemorating every person killed by far-right extremist Anders Breivik. But on the 10th anniversary of the attack, the memorial remains a construction site. And a monument, deftly designed to capture in sunlight the exact duration of the attack — from a bomb explosion in Oslo, to Breivik’s eventual arrest on Utoya — won't be ready. A mix of mutating plans, delays, and court interventions, has pit bereaved parents and survivors against local residents who say they are still traumatized after seeing and hearing the slaughter on Utoya from their sleepy rural village less than a mile away across the water. For some local residents, the delay is a temporary reprieve from the arrival of visitors they fear will forever upend their community. For parents of the dead and survivors, it is an unforgivable failure.