Speakers at Austurvöllur square in front of the Icelandic parliament, Alþingi, were either applauded or booed at during a solidarity meeting organized by the Federation of Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners (LÍÚ) in Reykjavík yesterday.
During yesterday’s demonstrations. Photos by Geir Ólafsson.
LÍÚ organized the event to protest the government’s planned changes to the fisheries control system. Almost 70 ships entered Reykjavík’s harbor on the occasion, sounding their foghorns throughout the day, Fréttablaðið reports.
Harbor manager Gísli Gíslason told RÚV that this is a new record; never before have as many ships been docked at the harbor at the same time.
LÍÚ handed over a petition to Speaker of Parliament Ásta Ragnheiður Jóhannesdóttir after the meeting.
At the same time, MP of the Left-Greens Björgvin Valur Gíslason gave chairman of LÍÚ Adolf Guðmundsson a copy of the novel Salka Valka by Halldór Laxness, as a sign of goodwill.
The police were prepared for struggle but the demonstrations on Austurvöllur were mostly peaceful. An estimated number of 2,000 people gathered there.
Click here to read more about LÍÚ’s protest and see pictures of the ships crowding the harbor.
ESA
