A group of protestors going by the name of Occupy Reykjavík, were denied permission to set up tents in Austurvöllur, the main square in the capital and home to the Icelandic parliament, the Alþingi. Geir Jón Þórisson, chief constable at the Rekjavík Metropolitan Police says that tents that were erected last night in the square have already been removed.

Geir Jón said in an interview with Morgunblaðið that officers working on the night shift became aware of last night that tents would be set up in the square again. Late yesterday the protestors were made to remove their tents as they had not received the required permission from the city of Reykjavík.

He went to say that when the police had attempted to remove the tents last night, the protestors claimed that they had been given the go-ahead by the city, and so the police did nothing about the situation. “They spoke to [the police] and let them sit in doubt,” Geir Jón said, and added that the matter had been taken up with the city authorities this morning.

“This turned out to be wrong. So they were made to remove [the tents],” said Geir Jón. The protest may have been inspired by other occupation events which have taken place around the world recently, including an ongoing protest in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, where tents have been standing for a couple of weeks. According to the Reykjavík Grapevine, the protesters set up camp in the square to protest about the state of democracy in Iceland.

Source and image: Morgunblaðið

Labels: Protests