NORWAY'S
PARLIAMENT, the Storting, was temporarily closed off Wednesday after repeated
threats against the institution, police said.
Two
threats were directed at the institution on Tuesday, but no link between them
has been established yet, Oslo police chief of operations Sven Bjelland told a
press briefing.
The
first was not deemed credible, but the second threat led police to cordon off
the building in the centre of Oslo on Wednesday.
According
to Norwegian media, the threats were bomb threats, but police did not confirm
this.
The
public was asked to leave the building, but work continued normally inside in
the morning.
"We
are now at a stage where we do not believe that these (threats) were real, but
that does not mean that they are not serious," Bjelland told reporters
after noon Wednesday.
The
security perimeter set up around the parliament building was therefore lifted,
but police said that they would maintain a presence on site.
Police
gave no further details about the threats or their motives but said the source
of the first threat had been identified.
Images
and video from the scene showed heavily-armed police officers wearing helmets
surrounding the building, while police dogs were used to inspect the
surrounding area.
In
Norway, police are generally not armed, but they had been authorised to be
temporarily armed from March 27 to April 2 -- during Easter -- without
authorities changing their threat assessment level, which is currently
considered "moderate".