A NORWEGIAN ANTI-IMMIGRANT group is being widely mocked for mistaking empty seats on an Oslo bus for a “terrifying” group of women wearing burqas.
The photo was posted in the private Facebook group Fedrelandet viktigst, which translates as ‘Fatherland first’, along with the question “what do you think about this?”
Respondents labelled the photo “frightening,” “tragic” and “disgusting”. “I thought this would be true in the year 2050, but it is happening NOW!” one of them said.
“This looks really scary,” wrote another. “Should be banned. You can’t tell who’s underneath. Could be terrorists.”
Other group members speculated that the figures could potentially be hiding “weapons” and “bombs”.
Screengrabs of the group’s activity immediately went viral when they were posted on Facebook by former Labour party MP Sindre Beyer.
“What happens when a photo of some empty bus seats is posted to a disgusting Facebook group, and nearly everyone thinks they see a bunch of burqas?” Beyer said. He also posted 23 pages worth of comments on the photo.
Beyer told Norwegian news outlet Nettavisen that he has been following the 13,000-strong group for some time.
“I’m shocked at how much hate and fake news is spreading there. The hatred that came against empty buses really showed that the prejudices trumped wisdom.
That’s why I shared the post so that more people can see what’s happening in dark corners of the web.
His post has been shared thousands of times and has made headlines around the world.
The original post in the group was made by Norwegian man Johan Slåttavik who later told Nettavisen that he did it as a joke.
Slåttavik said he was “interested to see how people’s perceptions of an image are influenced by how others around them react.”
“I ended up having a good laugh.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say