Prime Minister Unable To Attend Paris March

Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson did not accept his French colleague François Hollande’s invitation to partake in Sunday’s solidarity march for press freedom, held in the wake of the attack against Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Thereby, no representative of the Icelandic state was present. Correction: The Icelandic ambassador’s alias was.

According to mbl.is, Jóhannes Þór Skúlason, the prime minister’s assistant, the minister was unable to accept the invitation. The assistant said he could not cite further reasons why.

States whose leaders attended the event included all the other Nordic countries.

As reported by The Guardian, state leaders were not given any ceremonial standing in the march: “presidents, prime ministers, statesmen and women travelled by bus to join a largely silent march”. According to estimates, over a million people took part.