Around 200 Gathered For Anti-Fascist Rally In Reykjavik

In response to a recent showing by the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), about 200 people braved heavy rains and cold to gather last Saturday in a public rally against Nazism in Iceland.

As reported, anywhere from ten to fifteen members of the NRM assembled at Lækjartorg in downtown Reykjavík last week, Stundin reported, where they handed out flyers and, on one occasion, called someone a “race traitor” for tearing up one of said flyers.

In response, an event was created to have a rally against fascism at the exact same spot last Saturday. Despite heavy rains and cold temperatures that battered the capital region, some 200 people turned up for the event to listen to speakers and to generally show a unified front against fascism.

Speakers at the event included Pirate Party Reykjavík City Councilperson Dóra Björt Guðjónsdóttir; Socialist Party Reykjavík City Councilperson Sanna Magdalena Mörtudóttir; vice chair of Trans Ísland Vilma Lampinen; Katrín Alda Ámundadóttir of No Borders; Sema Erla Serdar, the chair of refugee rights group Solaris; queer activist Guðmunda Smári; and Þórhildur Elísabet Þórsdóttir of Amnesty International.

The rally went without incident. No Nazis showed up to disrupt the proceedings, and even police presence was limited to a single motorcycle cop who kept his distance.

The NRM have had a limited, almost invisible presence in Iceland for a few years now, manifesting itself in the occasional appearance of flyers and stickers. Elsewhere in the world, however, they have engaged in violence repeatedly, their primary targets being Muslims, Jews, queer people, and really anyone who does not fit their narrow definition of a European person.

The NRM have become so much of a problem that Finland banned the group in 2017. While Iceland does have laws against hate speech, it is unknown if these laws have been applied to the propaganda that NRM purveys.