When the employees of contactor ÍAV arrived to work in the Gálgahraun lava field yesterday morning, where they’re constructing a controversial road connecting Garðabær and Álftanes outside Reykjavík, they noticed that their machines had been meddled with.
From the construction site. Photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review.
The oil tanks of five or six machines were open and traces of sand and gravel around the openings lead the road constructors to conclude that the oil had been contaminated. Sand and gravel had also been stuffed into the machines’ exhaust pipes, RÚV reports.
They didn’t start the machines, which prevented further damage, but could not start working until after having cleaned the oil tanks and exhaust pipes.
Sigurður Ragnarsson, managing director of ÍAV’s construction division, said they will consider whether to put up CCTV cameras in the area.
Representatives of Hraunavinir (‘Lava Friends’), Gunnsteinn Ólafsson, who have actively protested the road construction in Gálgahraun, stated that they are not responsible for the sabotage.
It is not in their spirit and does not help their cause, Gunnsteinn reasoned. The demonstrators have put up a tent in the lava field and continued their protest.
ÍAV reported the sabotage to the police. A representative of the police in Hafnarfjörður told RÚV last night that no one has been arrested or questioned because of this case.
The case of environmentalists against the Icelandic Road Administration because of the Gálgahraun road construction opened at Reykjavík District Court yesterday.
It was decided to wait for a decision from the Supreme Court of Iceland as to whether consultative advice from EFTA is necessary to determine whether the environmentalists have any legal interest in this case.
Related:
22.10.2013 | Road Construction Resumed – Protesters Removed Again
21.10.2013 | Protestors Arrested at Road Construction Site
ESA
