Police: The protest went too far

Kristján Helgi Þráinsson, deputy director of the Reykjavík Metropolitan Police, says the police do what they need to do to solve problems that can arise during protests. He says the protests went too far and that one police officer had to go to the emergency room.

It was reported earlier that pepper spray had been applied to protesters gathered this morning at Skuggasund where a government meeting was held.

Tried to block the movement of ministers’ cars

Þráinsson says that the protesters tried to prevent the ministers’ cars from getting away after the meeting, and many of them lay on the ground to block the cars. He mentions that people did not obey the police’s orders and they had tried to push the protesters away.

“We naturally do what needs to be done in a situation like this and we use pepper spray, among other things.”

According to mbl.is, an ambulance arrived at Skuggasund after the government meeting. Þráinsson says police will be given an ambulance to be safe in case something happens.

“There were some people who got a pepper spray on them so they might have gone to the ambulance, but I am not sure if they did.”

One police officer had to seek help

He says one police officer had to go to the emergency room after the protests.

“When ministers were arriving, people were standing in front of them and we had to remove them so that ministers could get to their meeting. Then a policeman is taking on the protesters and pushing them away, and they push back, and it ends with the minister’s car going into the leg of the policeman.”

Þráinsson says that the protests, which are connected to the issue of Palestine and have been held regularly in the past months, have not before been this intense.

He said that today, the situation went too far. The police want to assist protesters in getting their views out but the police have rules they must abide.