Eighteen protestors succeeded in stopping work for over two hours yesterday at the site of the controversial Kárahnjúkar hydro-electric development in East Iceland. Fréttablaðð reports that the protestors entered the work area and chained themselves to trucks and other equipment or lay in front of vehicles. The police from nearby Egilsstaðir arrested 13 protestors, who offered no resistance. The remaining five had left by the time police arrived. Ómar R. Valdimarsson, spokesperson for Impregilo, the main contractors at Kárahnjúkar, said that charges will probably be laid.
Birgitta Jónsdóttir, one of several other protestors at a camp site near the hydro-electric project, said that Icelanders did not take part in this particular demonstration, although everyone was staying at the same camp. “Everyone is here on his or her own volition, and personally I have nothing against action of this kind as long as lives are not put at risk”.
