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Bermudian family witness Norway's grief

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Poignant: This picture of flowers and candles left outside a church in Oslo, Norway, following last Friday's bombing and shooting tragedy, was sent to The Royal Gazette by Bermuda's Lisa Robinson and her family, who are currently in Noway.

A Bermudian family has been caught up in the mass mourning in Oslo, Norway in the wake of Friday’s bombing and shooting rampage that left dozens dead.Lisa Robinson told The Royal Gazette she and her family were on vacation and over the weekend had checked into the Thon Hotel Opera, which they found had a clear view of the bombed building in Oslo.Mrs Robinson, who is head of human resources at Catlin Bermuda, described seeing thousands of mourners walking in the streets with roses in hand as they tried to get through the crowds to a restaurant last night.“I think there were many more than 50,000 people in the streets tonight! (Monday),” she told the Gazette.“In a small cafe tonight we met a group of Norwegians. They had bunches of roses with them and explained that so many people turned up for the walk through the city that they couldn’t continue with it. They explained that this man arrested in the bombing was against the current ruling government party because they welcomed muslims and dark-skinned people into Oslo.“They said that it was sad that the walk couldn’t continue because there were just too many people, that it was also good to see the amazing numbers of people who came out to support the families and friends of all those who lost their lives in the bombing and in the shootings on the island teen camp.“Although the streets were filled with ten of thousands of mourners tonight, people moved peacefully, calmly and politely towards the church near the bomb site to lay their roses.”Mrs Robinson said the people in the cafe were so happy to meet people from Bermuda.“When I told them that we first heard about what happened while we were visiting Berlin from friends and family in Bermuda - one of the women in the group began to cry realising how far away people knew what had happened here. They assured us that we will be very safe here and that this is not something that Norway has ever experienced.”Mrs Robinson added: “They gave each of us, Ashley, Kaelan, and Glenn and me, one of their roses so we left the cafe and went down to the church to lay our roses too.”She and her family are off to the city of Bergen in the morning for more travelling.They flew to Europe on holiday after their daughter’s graduation from Bristol University where she gained a law degree.

In Norway:Lisa Robinson