(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Chanting "No to anti-Semitism, no to Islamophobia," more than 1000 Norwegian Muslims flocked to Oslo's synagogue on Saturday, forming a human shield as a symbolic protection for the Jewish community.
"Humanity is one and we are here to demonstrate that," Zeeshan Abdullah, one of the protest's organizers told a crowd of Muslim immigrants and ethnic Norwegians who filled the small street around Oslo's only functioning synagogue, told Reuters.
The shield was formed as part of an event organized by Norway Muslim community to offer support to Jews after Copenhagen and Paris extremist attacks.
Norway's Muslims formed what they called a ring of peace a week after Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, a Danish-born son of Palestinian immigrants, killed two people at a synagogue and an event promoting free speech in Copenhagen last weekend.
Called the "Peace Ring", the Muslim ring was formed around Oslo's synagogue following the Shabat celebration on February 21.
"There are many more peace mongers than warmongers," Abdullah said as organizers and Jewish community leaders stood side by side.
"There's still hope for humanity, for peace and love, across religious differences and backgrounds."
Norway is home to a small Jewish minority, one of Europe's smallest, numbering around 1000.
The Muslim population, which has been growing steadily, is 150,000 to 200,000 out of Norway's 5.2 million population.
Debates over immigration in the country came to the forefront in 2011 when Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people and accused the government and the then-ruling Labour party of facilitating Muslim immigration and adulterating pure Norwegian blood.
Support for immigration has been rising steadily since those attacks, however, and an opinion poll late last year found that 77 percent of people thought immigrants made an important contribution to Norwegian society.
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