A group of people demonstrated outside and inside parliament yesterday to show solidarity with the nine protestors who are facing charges for having attacked parliament during mass demonstrations two years ago.
Speaker of Parliament Ásta Ragnheidur Jóhannesdóttir. Photo by Páll Kjartansson.
Protestors shouted at MPs from the public gallery so parliamentary speaker Ásta Ragnheidur Jóhannesdóttir decided to postpone the parliamentary session by 20 minutes while the gallery was cleared, Morgunbladid reports.
One agitated protestor shouted “get out of here” at Jóhannesdóttir. She said it appears as if some people are under the impression that she filed the charges personally, which is a misunderstanding. “I haven’t had anything to do with this case,” she said.
Office manager of Althingi Helgi Bernódusson said the protestors had entered the building peacefully—it is the legal right of every citizen to follow the parliament’s proceedings from the public gallery—unlike two years ago.
Bernódusson added that there were some familiar faces in the crowd, “but everyone has the same right to enter, we will not differentiate between people. But they have to follow the rules of Althingi,” he said in explanation as to why the gallery was cleared.
On December 8, 2008, the group of nine protested in the parliamentary gallery. They are accused of having barged unauthorized into the parliament and violated public peace, among other charges. They are facing at least one year of imprisonment.
Click here to read more about the group of nine.
