Media visit island for the first time since massacre

(3 Oct 2011) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of journalists disembarking from ferry at Utoya island
2. Wide of a building on the island where the first victims were killed
3. Close of the sign reading "Utoya" on building wall
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eskil Pedersen, leader of AUF (Workers' Youth League) :
"It has been a place where youth gather to discuss politics, to just be young people during the summer camp that we arrange here every year. So it's been an important place for us, for the Labour Youth, but it has also been important political place in Norway."
5. Wide of "School hut" where Labour Youth members attended workshops
6. Mid of the entrance to the "School Hut"
7. Wide of the interior of the building
8. Close of decorations on the wall
9. Pull focus to dewdrops on the grass
10. Tracking shot through the woods
11. Various waves on the beach where at least 10 victims were killed
12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eskil Pedersen, AUF leader :
"It is difficult to them and in the future hopefully we will be able to honour the people that we lost that day, at the same time as we can look forward into the future and that we can still have an island where young people can come, discuss politics and just be young people."
13. Pan of posters in cafe building
14. Close of a political poster
15. Bullet holes in cafe wall
16. Close of a bullet hole
17. Wide of a ferry returning from the island
18. Wide of the island from moving boat
STORYLINE:
Norway opened the island of Utoya to journalists Monday for the first time since confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik massacred 69 people at a youth camp in July, with the ruling Labour Party vowing to ensure its idyllic retreat transcends the tragedy.
Police closed the island, 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Oslo, after the July 22 attacks in which Breivik also set off a car bomb outside the prime minister's office in central Oslo, killing eight people.
More than 150 journalists and photographers participated in Monday's visit to Utoya, a popular recreational centre owned by the ruling Labour Party, which traditionally uses it for its youth wing's summer retreats.
Organisers said that they would gradually open the island to the public but will request that visitors respect it as the site of the killings.
In August, about 1,000 survivors and relatives travelled to Utoya, accompanied by police and medical staff, to face the painful memories of the shootings.
A day earlier, there was a similar visit by 500 relatives of victims.
Donors have pledged more than 32 (m) million kroner (5.5 million US dollars) to renovate the island, dotted with camping grounds, football fields and basketball courts, said Eskil Pedersen, leader of the Labour Party's youth organisation.
Pedersen said that the summer camps and political meetings of the Labour Party on the island had played an important role in the country's political history.
"It has been a place where youth gather to discuss politics, to just be young people during the summer camp that we arrange here every year. So it's been an important place for us, for the Labour Youth, but it has also been important political place in Norway," Pedersen told reporters.
He said that youth camps would resume on the island, but a decision had not yet been taken on when that would be.
The party also plans a commemorative monument on the island.
There were few outward signs of the horrific attack in the small, peaceful forested island where an autumn sun shone brightly, in stark contrast to the rainy day of the shooting rampage.

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