Reykjavík residents began to more fully take part in the global Occupy movement this weekend, and it is being reported that police are clearing out protesters who set up a large tent in front of parliament.
Protests in front of parliament have gained more traction since the Pots and Pans Revolution of 2008/2009, but these protests have almost always involved people organising, protesting, and then going home to rest for further protests the following day. Occupy Reykjavík – which went into full gear last weekend as a part of the global Occupy movement – has seen fewer attendees so far, but rather than go home, some have erected a tent.
RÚV reports about two dozen people using the tent, while the number of people who were at the scene protesting were in greater numbers. Methúsalem Þórisson, one of the protesters camping out, told reporters, “We are tired of this appearance of democracy. The police have said that we are doing this without a permit, but we are using this public space to talk with people about how we can make functioning democracy work in Iceland.”
The group has a Facebook page, on which it is being shown that police are clearing out the occupying protesters. The tent was supposedly taken away by the police.
In the following video, police are seen clearing out the Occupier tent. When the cameraman asks him, “What’s going on?”, the officer replies, “I’m not going to say anything to the camera”:
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