Gálgahraun Nine Sentenced

All nine protestors who halted road construction through the protected Gálgahraun lava field have been sentenced to pay fines or face jail time.

Vísir reports that all nine suspects were found guilty of refusing to obey police orders to leave the premises. As such, they were sentenced to either pay 100,000 ISK each within four weeks or spend eight days in jail. They were also sentenced to cover the legal fees of the prosecution.

“Iceland the police state!,” several of the protestors yelled as they were led out of the court room. None would comment on whether or not they would appeal.

As reported, last October the nine protesters blocked construction equipment in the Gálgahraun lava fields. Their grievance was that the fields were officially protected from development in 2009.

Despite the legal protection of the area, construction of a new road – Álftanesvegar – was green-lit in September 2013, and will in part go through Gálgahraun.

This sparked protests that took the form of direct action, as protesters put themselves between the lava fields and construction equipment, stopping development before it could begin. Nine of these protestors were arrested, charged with refusing to obey a police order to leave.