The incident in December 2008 when a group of people went into the Parliament building in Iceland, put on masks and fought with staff members, is still very much alive. The Reykjavík circuit court gave two of the group suspended sentences and two more were fined. The group calls itself the Althingi nine, because nine people were indicted.
Protests by Althingi in November 2008. Photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review
In an article in Fréttabladid yesterday Althingi staff manager Karl M. Kristjánsson said: “A lawyer for some of the defendants has gotten the opportunity to give a one-sided view on behalf of his clients, in which the staff of Althingi has been put down and the case misinterpreted and distorted. The low point was when State TV RÚV showed a short, edited clip of a video from the incident. In the video chapters were edited out, chapters where staff members of Althingi were attacked in a planned and ruthless way.” The video shows the group fighting with staff members. Two of the group finally got to the galleys of Althingi and started shouting. The unedited video can be seen here. (Less than three minutes). Push the button that says: “Horfa á myndskeið með frétt”.
Sigmar Gudmundsson of RÚV issued a statement saying that the show referred to, Kastljós, a news analysis show, had not been biased. Kastljós showed a number of clips, including one in which the group can be seen coming from Idnó, a theater near the Parliament building. It also shows a 30 second segment from the video inside Althingi. The Kastljós videos can be seen here. (About 11 minutes). Push the button that says: “Horfa á myndskeið með frétt”.
Click here to read more about the case of the Reykjavík 9.
