All the pride flags were cut down in the middle of the night in Hella, reports RÚV.
The chief constable in Hella is encouraging the perpetrator to come forward and apologize. The police are indicating the incident as vandalism instead of a hate crime. Meanwhile, the executive director of Samtökin ’78 says queer people saw the incident as an attack.
This is the first time Hella has flown pride flags during Pride and the nine flags were located at a roundabout in the center of town. The acting head of the local council, Klara Viðarsdóttir, says the destruction was discovered in the morning and residents of the municipality are saddened by the incident.
The police say they have conducted an assessment and determined the incident was simply an act of vandalism and an investigation is ongoing.
“I don’t know what kind of analysis has been done by the police to determine that this is not hate speech,” says executive director of Samtökin ’78, Daníel E. Arnarsson.
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