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A fringe far-right party in Norway is under fire for an anti-vax stunt in which its leader turned up uninvited at a high school and handed out 500 kroner (about £42) to students if they promised not to take a coronavirus vaccine.The incident took place on Monday in Valler upper secondary school in Bærum, a suburb of Oslo, which was hosting an event where students, ranging in age from 16 to 19, could meet politicians from various parties ahead of national elections later this month.Hans Jørgen Lysglimt Johansen, the leader of the small, radical-right Alliansen (The Alliance) party, turned up brandishing an anti-vax placard, refused to leave when asked to by school officials, and handed out banknotes to students who said they wouldn’t be vaccinated, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported.Norway announced last week it would begin offering coronavirus vaccinations to children aged 12 and over.The school’s principal, Berit Hetland, said the politician and his supporters eventually left after school officials called the police.“It is totally unacceptable what they have done,” Hetland told NRK. “So I called the police, and while we were waiting for the police, they withdrew.”Lysglimt Johansen told the broadcaster that he had decided to show up at the school without permission, because he felt it was “undemocratic” that his party had not been invited. He had personally stumped up the money handed out to the students.“It was from my own wallet, because I am concerned that young people should not take the vaccine,” he said. Students told NRK that some who had taken the money were already fully vaccinated, while Heltand said Alliansen hadn’t been invited because it had received only 0.1% support of the vote in the county at the last election.Alliansen was founded in 2016 by Lysglimt Johansen, a vocal cheerleader for Donald Trump’s brand of nativist politics, with an agenda to halt immigration and pull Norway out of the European Economic Area. Lysglimt Johansen has attracted controversy for a string of racist statements, complaining about the influence of Black culture over Norwegian youth and making anti-Semitic statements alleging Jewish influence over the country’s politicians. In June, he drew outrage for saying in a video that much of what Anders Behring Breivik, the neo-Nazi terrorist, had said in his manifesto was “correct”; Norwegian media have also reported links between his party and the neo-Nazi scene.Henning Finseraas, associate professor in the sociology and political science department at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, told VICE World News that the stunt was on brand for Lysglimt Johansen, who he described as a “provocateur” who regularly pulled similar antics to try to get attention for the party, which is regularly described in Norwegian media as a “micro-party.”“The party is very small and does not get any airtime in election debates, and their policy platform does not get coverage by the media,” he said.Toril Aalberg, a professor in the same department, told VICE World News that she didn’t expect the stunt to reap any dividends for the far-right party, as there appeared to be little voter support for corona-sceptic, anti-lockdown politics.“No anti-vaxx [or] anti-lockdown topics have become a part of the campaign. There are of course a few critical voices around, but typically not from politicians, but rather different unions, individual doctors or experts, interest groups,” she said.“All the significant political parties have basically supported the decisions made by the government on this matter.”Norway has currently been experiencing a rise in coronavirus infections, with a seven-day average of more than 1,400 cases a day.
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