“Gálgahraun Nine” Awarded

The nine protestors facing charges of disobeying a police order were awarded the Nature Protector Award yesterday.

DV reports that the award was given as a part of this year’s Nature Conservation Assembly, an annual gathering of environmentalists.

A statement from the Icelandic Environment Association described the nine as “representatives of a larger group of Lava Friends who stood watch over Gálgahraun for a while month last fall, and tried to stop road construction which would split up this historic and complexly beautiful lava field in two.”

As reported, the nine are currently awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court to have the charges against them dismissed. They have been charged with refusing to obey a police order to disperse their blockade of road construction through the Gálgahraun lava field, which was officially protected in 2009, last October.