Sep 29 2005
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'Mark Kennedy' Tag Archive
Aug 03 2005
The Guardian – Iceland Should Not be Proud
Time to resign? The Chief of Icelandic State Police and the Minister of Justice share a tense moment (while possibly reading a report from police spy Mark Kennedy)
The Guardian
Paul Brown
Wednesday August 3, 2005
Icelandic police have not forgotten their Viking ancestors, whose names in the sagas, Eric Bloodaxe and Einar Hard-mouth, leave little to the imagination. Last week,eyewitnesses say the police ordered bulldozer drivers to start their engines and move off despite the fact that more than 25 people who were trying to halt work on the Karahnjukar Dam construction site were locked on to the underside of the vehicles. The dam will destroy one of Iceland’s wild places so another hydroelectric scheme can provide power for a further aluminium smelter. Fortunately, demonstrators say they managed to jump in front of the vehicles and pull out fuel lines to prevent injury. They were arrested for their trouble and then allegedly beaten. A 21st-century saga of which Iceland should not be proud.
http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,,1540970,00.html
Jul 19 2005
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Violent Repression of Peaceful International Protest
Icelandic police order drivers to start machinery risking protestors’ lives.
Police and security guards at the Karahnjukar Dam construction site in Iceland, last night ordered the bulldozers drivers to start their engines and move off, despite there being more than 25 people locked on to the underside of their vehicles.
“It was terrifying, if someone hadn’t jumped up on the front of the truck and pulled out the fuel line then I think people may have been killed last night” said Rob, one of the protesters from the UK. Read More
Jul 19 2005
Kárahnjúkar Dam Works Blockaded on Anniversary of Alcoa Signing
On Tuesday 19th July 2005 a group of approximately 20 of us hiked to the main junction approaching the site. Four of our group locked on to a pick up truck and a HUGE caterpillar construction vehicle. We managed to block two other access roads and halt work on the site for three hours.
This was a first in Icelandic history: the police had to make up a word for “lock-on”. Thirteen of us were “detained, apparently “arrested”, and later released without charge….with the warning that Impregilo were “looking at this incident with grave eyes” and were likely to make a civil case. Impregilo have since changed their mind. For a change, the media did report that the protesters were “friendly”!