From Iceland — Progressives Want to Investigate Protests

Progressives Want to Investigate Protests

Published November 17, 2010

The Progressive Party has submitted a proposal calling for an investigation into which members of parliament took part in the so-called Pots and Pans Revolution of late 2008 and early 2009.
The proposal was not met with a great deal of support from other parties, with only three members of the Progressive Party speaking up in support of it. Specifically, the proposal calls for investigations to be conducted to see if any MPs who took part in the protests might have broken the law, or otherwise violated regulations that would result in their dismissal from parliament.
The rationale of the proposal explains that while most protesters conducted themselves peacefully, some of them threw rocks at police and the parliamentary building, some attempted to force their way into parliament, and some attempted to break into the police station on Hverfisgata. While the proposal does not name any one member of parliament specifically in connection with violent activity, it does use rumour and innuendo to implicate unnamed MPs in those activities.
The proposal recommends that an investigative committee be given full power to follow all possible leads and connections between violent activities during the protests and sitting members of parliament. In the event that such connections are found, it is recommended that charges are pressed.
Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, who drafted the proposal, told reporters, “It isn’t right that members of parliament should have broken the law or encouraged others to do so, at a time when we’re prosecuting others for the same,” referring to charges of negligence and mismanagement that were brought against former prime minister Geir H. Haarde for his part in the collapse of the economy that resulted in the protests.

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