Norway Killer?s Anti-Islamic Stance Finds Favor Among Some European Politicians

Mario Borghezio, an Italian Member of European Parliament, condemned the mass murder perpetrated by Norway’s Ander Behring Breivik, but nonetheless said he supported much of the killer’s ideas and attitudes.

Borghezio, who belongs to the fiercely anti-immigration Northern League Party, which is itself a partner in the ruling government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government, told the Il Sole-24 Ore radio station: "Some of the ideas he expressed are good, barring the violence. Some of them are great,"

He also said he sympathized with Breivik’s “opposition to Islam and his explicit accusation that Europe has surrendered before putting up a fight against its Islamicisation".

Opposition members and other MEPs have expressed their outrage over Borghezio's views and are calling for him to resign.

Nikki Sinclaire, an MEP from England stated in response to Borghezio: "My heart goes out to the victims of the atrocities that took place in Norway last week, and to their families. There can be no excuses, no justifications. This was nothing but an act of pure and unmitigated evil.”

Breivik also found some support from the far-right in France.

Jacques Coutela, a member of the extreme far-right National Front party, was suspended after defending the Norwegian mass murdered on his blog.

Coutela praised Breivik as "the main defender of the West", and said he was like a modern-day version of Charles Martel, the Frankish military leader who stopped the expansion of Islam in Western Europe in the seventh century.

"The reason for the Norway terror attacks: fighting the Muslim invasion, that's what people don't want you to know", Coutela wrote.

In Britain, where Breivik claims he has colleagues and accomplices, the head of the anti-Islam English Defense League (EDL) said the mass murder in Norway should serve as an alarm for all of Europe.

"What happened in Oslo shows how desperate some people are becoming in Europe," said Stephen Lennon.

"It's a ticking time bomb. If they don't give that frustration and anger a platform as such and a voice - and a way of getting emotion out in a democratic way - it will create monsters like this lunatic."