American cruise passengers arriving in Trondheim on Monday morning were met with abuse of the worst kind. “Fascists”, “Let it sink”, “MAGA go home”, bellowed a noisy crowd on the quay. The organiser was LO in Trondheim. The same LO that participated when the Iranian regime was praised in the city this spring, and the same people who attempted to prevent the inaugural meeting of Bevar Norge in February.
LO Trondheim was the organiser
“F*** you” is perhaps not the reception that Visit Norway wishes well-to-do tourists touring Norway to encounter. But the hateful expression was only one of many such remarks that echoed across the tourist quay in Trondheim on Monday morning. There, LO in Trondheim and the surrounding area had ensured that professional demonstrators had set their alarm clocks in order to shout and scream together with left-wing activists from Rødt, SV and, not least, countless trade unions.
LO leader from the Centre Party
“This is an economic upper class that wants to crush our democracy,” claimed local LO leader Vegard Tillerflaten in his address on the waterfront.
Tillerflaten works as a bus driver and is a deputy representative to the Storting until 2029 for the Centre Party (Senterpartiet). He is also the leader of LO in Trondheim, which in turn was the organiser of an event that can hardly be described as particularly democratic, since they evidently do not wish certain tourists to enjoy freedom of movement in Norway.
Trump supporters unwelcome
Or as they wrote in the invitation on Facebook, calling for mobilisation:
“Banner demonstration – a huge no to MAGA in Trondheim.
LO in Trondheim and the surrounding area encourages all trade unions affiliated with us to attend a banner demonstration at Trondheim Harbour – the Tourist Quay on Monday 15.06.26 from 07:30.
This summer, the ship Silver Dawn is setting course for Scandinavia. This ship is loaded with American millionaires closely connected to the MAGA movement through a university/think tank that was behind Project 2025, the political plan to undermine democracy in the United States, which the President is governing by. We want to show that such movements are not welcome in Trondheim.”
Running the gauntlet to visit Trondheim
The local press suggests that 150 people responded to the call. Videos from the event show that attendance was not quite so numerous, but all the more vocal. And the abuse was reportedly shouted at all passengers who dared to disembark. It was hardly possible to distinguish “MAGA” from other Americans.
Moreover, the cruise ship was not merely “loaded” with Trump supporters from the MAGA movement. Of the 600 passengers, 190 were reportedly travelling as part of a group tour organised by Hillsdale College, a university based on conservative and Christian values. And perhaps such things must not be allowed into Norway, not even as tourists? We must assume that the others were ordinary Americans, but they too had to run the gauntlet in order to enter the capital of Trøndelag.
Fellesforbundet pleased with the action
The local branch of Fellesforbundet is very pleased to have participated in the protest against the Americans.
“Today we have been in Trondheim and given the finger to Trump’s friends in the MAGA movement,” writes Fellesforbundet Branch 1 on Facebook, posting photos from the event.
And in another post, accompanied by a video:
“The MAGA movement can go back where it belongs!”
Both posts from Fellesforbundet display the middle finger, along with a clenched fist.
The Education Association against the Americans
The comment sections have not been entirely aligned with the anti-MAGA demonstrators. Several have closed the possibility of commenting and have also removed comments from those who managed to write something that did not suit their views. Among them was the Education Association (Utdanningsforbundet) in Trondheim, whose members also took part in the action on Monday morning.
“What was intended as a quiet, civilised protest to show solidarity with our teaching colleagues and public employees in the United States is now being used to spread hatred and false doctrine. We therefore choose to close the comments section,”
writes the local Education Association, which is so democratically inclined that it has removed all comments. Then everyone was treated equally? They posted only one photo from the event, featuring, among other things, an enormous Pride flag.
The party Rødt was, of course, heavily represented. They thank LO in Trondheim and the surrounding area for a fantastic event. And as Rødt writes: “Trondheim is and remains Norway’s reddest city!”
Adresseavisen has also become redder than blue over time, and the newspaper’s commentator Jonas Skybakmoen believes the demonstrators were largely right. Even if the speakers on the themed cruise were not outright fascists, “the MAGA movement and the Trump regime nevertheless have fascist traits. Therefore, it was good that quite a few people from Trondheim had turned out to mark their distance,” writes Skybakmoen in an article entitled “When MAGA Was Sought to Be Chased Away”. And further:
“The activists played the American band Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ over the sound system – and of course it fitted quite well.
One demonstrator held a placard bearing the words ‘Rats in 1349. Cockroaches in 2026’. As is well known, a ship arrived in Bjørgvin back then, long ago.
MAGA tourists are better, after all. Moreover, far worse Americans were expected in Oslo this weekend.”
The reference was to the ReMig conference.
Apparently some people may express their opinions loudly, while others may not, in the new “democracy”. Some can apparently even introduce terms such as “rat” and “cockroach” without any problems. Provided they belong to the good side, that is.
Document journalist barred from covering Iran demo: – I’ll sue you
LO in Trondheim also participated when a Document journalist was physically escorted away while attempting to cover an Iran demonstration in Trondheim, where LO was a co-organiser, and was prevented from doing her work as a journalist. By two Arabs who do not like what Document writes.
And as mentioned, it was LO in Trondheim that organised the hateful demonstration in Trondheim in February, when they attempted to prevent the inaugural meeting of Bevar Norge. Participants who had not realised that the entrance had been moved because the demonstration had become known had to run the gauntlet, just like the American tourists.