PM slams June 17 protestors
Crowds chanted 'Incompetent government’!' on 17 June. Photo: Stymir Kári
Iceland’s Prime Minister has spoken out at the “lack of respect” shown by protestors at the June 17 National Day celebrations in Reykjavik.
In an interview for Icelandic newspaper DV published today, PM Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson claims that the point of the protest was to prevent people from hearing the conciliatory message being sent out.
“I could barely hear myself speak,” says Gunnlaugsson. “I imagine nobody on Austurvöllur [Parliament Square in Reykjavik] heard what I said either. Some people did not want my message, which was intended to bring people together and focus on what unites us as a nation, to be heard.”
He expresses particular pain at the noise made by protestors while the choir sung and while the fjallkona, the ‘queen of the mountains’, a symbol for the nation of Iceland, read the traditional poem.
“These young people had been rehearsing for days and weeks to prepare for their part in the celebrations and there were not permitted to enjoy the occasion,” the PM remarks.
Gunnlaugsson concludes that this behaviour is indicative of a larger problem, i.e. “the lack of respect taking over a certain small but vocal group of people. […] I don’t think, however, that this is representative of society as a whole. I think people in general are getting fed up with all this bad feeling.”
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