A Cuban family decided to leave Iceland altogether after receiving numerous threats of violence, including their home being broken into twice on a single day and being threatened in person. Police say the matter has no other explanation than racism.
The matter began when the girlfriend of the seventeen-year-old son in the family had been receiving racist insults from classmates at secondary school in Kópavogur, told that she shouldn’t be dating outside her race. The Cuban boy, along with a few friends, arrived at school to speak with the superintendent. Apparently, the boys instead met with the classmate who had been insulting the boy’s girlfriend, and words were exchanged.
An older cousin of the classmate, who is now in police custody, began by calling the Cuban family at their home, threatening them with violence. He then broke into their home twice on a single day, along with an accomplice, threatening the boy and his father.
While the older cousin and his accomplice are now in police custody, the family have decided to leave Iceland altogether.
The father, who has lived and worked in Iceland for 11 years, told the newspaper DV that he found it “unbelievable that such a thing could happen in the 21st century”. His wife and older son remain in Iceland, and are Icelandic citizens, but may leave the country as well.
While there had been an anonymous source at the school who said that racism was not a factor in the dispute, information from Reykjavík police attests that there is no other motivation behind the harassment than racism. Police are still investigating the matter.