| Associated Press Thu 11-SEP-1986 20:23 Thatcher-Norway
Demonstrators Delay Thatcher Dinner
OSLO, Norway (AP) - Riot police fired tear gas Thursday night to
disperse hundreds of demonstrators who delayed guests arriving for a
state dinner welcoming Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain.
Policemen on horseback, trained dogs and police cars were used to push
back an angry mob that split off from an orderly demonstration outside
City Hall and marched past roadblocks to nearby Akershus Castle, where
state dinners and receptions are held.
When forced from the castle access road, several demonstrators hurled
cobblestones at police, but no officers were reported hurt. Some
demonstrators later charged they had been trampled by horses or knocked
down by police cars. One man claimed he was bitten by a police dog. The
demonstrators, mostly leftist youths and trade union members, held
posters and shouted "Maggie Go Home" and "Stop Apartheid" when the
British prime minister arrived Tromsoe Airport.
Norway supports international sanctions against South Africa to force
it to end apartheid, that nation's official policy of racial
separation. Mrs. Thatcher opposes sanctions, maintaining they do not
work.
The mob delayed the state dinner for about 40 minutes, embarrassing
Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The two prime ministers were to
hold formal talks Friday morning.
Police spokesman Joern Kr. Joergensen said one demonstrator at the
castle had been detained for questioning. "Some of the official guests
had their clothes damaged by the demonstrators," he said. "Some of the
arriving cars also got scars."
The main Oslo protest, called by 20 youth organizations, trade unions
and environment groups, attracted about 1,000 people, including
onlookers.
There were smaller demonstrations earlier Thursday in the Arctic town
of Tromsoe, where Mrs. Thatcher began her first trip to Norway with a
five-hour visit to review a section of NATO's strategic northern flank.
Mrs. Thatcher said at a luncheon speech in Tromsoe: "I`ve witnessed
today how you are in the frontline for the defense of freedom."
Mrs. Harlem Brundtland acknowledged that Norway and Britain have
differences. "It is no secret that our two nations cannot always agree
on everything. South Africa is one case in point," she said in her
luncheon address.
Mrs. Harlem Brundtland, a former environment minister, also told Mrs.
Thatcher about Norway's deep concern over acid rain, which it maintains
originates in England and other European nations. "We are sensitive to
environmental problems, and we are even more aware of the sensitivity
of the environment itself," she said. "We are sincerely looking forward
to establishing binding international cooperation with the United
Kingdom on these issues."
As Mrs. Thatcher began her 32 1/2-hour stay in Norway, her government
announced in London it would spend 600 million pounds, or $900 million,
to cut sulfur emissions from coal-fueled power plants and reduce acid
rain over Scandinavia.
The two prime ministers and their husbands, Denis Thatcher and Arne
Olav Brundtland, talked informally while flying from Tromsoe to Oslo
aboard Mrs. Thatcher's Royal Air Force jet.
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| Associated Press Fri 12-SEP-1986 14:37 Thatcher-Norway
British Prime Minister Approved Norway`s Oil Export Cut
OSLO, Norway (AP) - British Prime Minister Maragret Thatcher wound up
her official two-day visit to Norway Friday by tacitly approving
Norway's reliminary oil export cut by 10 percent in November and
October, her host an collegue, Gro Harlem Brundtland, told reporters.
"Our decision to cut export of crude by 10 percent for two months was
unilateral. It won`t have any negative effects for Great Britain. Mrs.
Thatcher had no objections to Norway's oil policy," the Labor Party
Premier said.
Her statement came after a lengthy exchange of opinions on
international and bilateral issues at Mrs. Harlem Brundtland's office.
"We were both surprised by allegations in British media that Norway's
export cut was designed to pressure the British government to do the
same," Mrs. Harlem Brundtland said.
Among other topics discussed were acid precipitation over Norway, South
Africa and East-West relations.
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