"We are all shocked"

Minister of Justice Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir and other government ministers met with the National Police Commissioner, police officers and people from the health system after the government meeting yesterday, where the discussion was about increased carrying of weapons and violence among young people.

"I would like to start by expressing my sympathy and deep sympathy to the relatives of Bryndís Klara Birgisdóttir. I know that the entire Icelandic nation feels very much for her family and relatives in this tragic situation," said Hafsteinsdóttir in an interview with mbl.is after the meeting.

Bryndís Klara was stabbed with a knife on Menningarnótt and died of her injuries on Friday. She was 17 years old. A 16-year-old boy is suspected of having stabbed three young people at Skúlagata and is in custody and solitary confinement in the prison in Hólmheiði.

Hafsteinsdóttir says that the government has addressed the increased violence against children and young people at all government meetings since the stabbing attack on Menningarnótt.

Must respond to certain urgent problems very quickly

"We are all shocked. We have had meetings with the police, children's homes and almost everyone involved in working with children and young people. We were in the ministerial committee finishing a meeting on the coordination of issues, and we are unanimous in the fact that certain urgent problems must be dealt with very quickly, and we also need to look to the long-term future," says the Minister of Justice.

She says that in June, she and the Minister of Education and Children presented measures to prevent increased violence against children and young people, and now an action group has been appointed which will meet tomorrow.

"He now has the task of prioritizing the measures we proposed back then, which were fourteen, and to bring proposals in the next few days to the government as to what they think must be done now first."

With this, she says that a clear message is being sent out to society that this will not be tolerated.

We are very worried

Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, believes that a national effort is needed in regards to these issues.

"We are extremely concerned about these issues. This is appalling and very serious, and this is an absolute priority in the government's discussion," Sigurbjörnsdóttir told a journalist after the government's meeting.