Three MPs from the Progressive Party have called for the formation of an investigative committee for the purpose of determining if any members of parliament had taken part in the 2009 popular protests in an illegal manner. The response from the left has been less than warm.
Eyjan reports that Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, Vigdís Hauksdóttir and Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson – all from the Progressive Party – submitted the parliamentary proposal, the language of which implies that certain members of parliament encouraged protesters to try and force their way into parliament and fight with police. These accusations are based largely on second-hand sources, including an article a policeman had written for Morgunblaðið. The MPs recommend the formation of a three-person committee to investigate how far certain MPs had gone to encourage such behaviour, and whether they had done so in a manner which violates the law.
The proposal names no specific members of parliament – a fact that did not go unnoticed by Social Democrat MP Mörður Árnason, who referred to the proposal’s citing that “MP A had witnessed MP B in contact with people outside the [parliamentary] building and giving them information about how the police were equipped.” Mörður responded, “Gunnar Bragi has donned his halo and comes here … demanding that people be dragged before some kind of investigative committee based on rumour and hearsay. Who is MP A? And who is MP B?” Gunnar Bragi did not respond to who the aforementioned mystery MPs might be.
Leftist-Green MP Álfheiður Ingadóttir also responded to the proposal, Smugan reports, saying that she, for one, was proud to have taken part in the popular protests. She dismissed outright that any member of parliament conducted themselves illegally, adding that to imply that MPs had somehow manipulated protesters was an insult to those protesting. She also said it was impossible to suggest that MPs from the Leftist-Green Party had controlled the emotions of thousands of Icelanders towards an incompetent government.
Being a proposal from the opposition with little support among the Progressives’ colleagues, it is unlikely to pass.
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