Anders Behring Breivik said he conspired with “business and political leaders” in London years before he set about planning last week’s massacre, an intruiging connection given the fact that the gunman’s manifesto is datelined “London 2011, suggesting a clear connection to the capital as evidence emerges of a wider plot.
“In the manuscript Breivik describes his “mentor” as an Englishman he identifies as “Richard”, and says his journey into violent extremism began at a small meeting in London in 2002 where a group of like-minded extremists met to “reform” the Knights Templar Europe, a military group whose purpose was “to seize political and military control of western European countries and implement a cultural conservative political agenda,” reports the Guardian.
“In his manifesto Breivik said the gathering in London was “not a stereotypical ‘rightwing’ meeting full of underprivileged, racist skinheads with a short temper”. Instead, he claimed those present were successful entrepreneurs, “business or political leaders, some with families, most Christian conservatives, but also some agnostics and even atheists”.