Police To Have Increased Downtown Presence This Weekend

If you go downtown this weekend, do not be surprised if you see more police officers than you might be used to seeing, assistant police chief Ásgeir Þór Ásgeirsson told Rás 2 this morning.

Last week’s mass stabbing at Bankastræti Club is said to be part of an ongoing feud between two groups of people, and police fear that there may be more violence this weekend. As such, the embassies of the US and the UK have both cautioned people to be vigilant if they intend to go downtown this weekend.

The police will also be vigilant, as always, says Ásgeir, but people will notice a difference in the weekend police presence in Reykjavík.

“We’ll have more vehicles, more people, and we will have more officers ready to confront difficult assignments,” he said. “It’s clear that people will see a difference over the weekend.”

There has reportedly already been violence that police say may be related to the Bankastræti attack, with both a firebombing in Hafnarfjörður and a window smashing downtown.

What may happen this weekend downtown, if anything, remains to be seen. That said, police have also disclosed that they have been able to trace the movements of the group behind the stabbing attack through CCTV, both before and after it happened. As such, it is likely that it will not be solely downtown officers keeping track of downtown movements this weekend.