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From: "Jo Makepeace" (webmaster@schnews.org.uk0
Subject: SchNEWS 555, Friday 11th August, 2006
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 16:55:37 +0100

Icelandic camp moved from Snaefell to Lindur

DAMMED IF YOU DON'T

Heard the old cliché about the calm, peaceful Scandinavians with more mature, liberal-socialist governments? Tell that to protestors engaged in the battle against the construction of the giant Karahnjukar hydro-electric dam in the Icelandic Highlands - one of Europe's last surviving wildernesses (See SchNEWS 487). The campaign stepped up a gear last week as activists relocated their protest camp from Snaefell, some hours walk to the construction site, to a much nearer, more disputed area at Lindur, an area threatened with flooding by the dam.

An eyewitness reports that the move took place in the face of massive police efforts to frustrate it, using exclusion zones and roadblocks, which required breaching by the activists. The new camp has subsequently been surrounded by cops, who are refusing to let vehicles in with food and water. On August 3rd, 7 activists broke in to the construction site and police were liberal with their batons, mistreating and arresting four. The next day, there was another invasion by more than 30 people who locked on to vehicles and stopped work for 4 hours. The police were back on brutal form, attacking video activists and damaging equipment, and cutting through people's D-locks with scant regard for safety. 17 people were arrested and many people had serious bruise injuries from the handcuffs used. One British woman could hardly walk on leaving the police station. The police refuse to state what laws they are using for this repression, but its clear who's side they are acting on.

The camp needs bolstering to maintain a strong international presence to keep up awareness of, and pressure on, the tactics being used in pursuit of this devastatingly destructive plan to turn large areas of Iceland's unique environment into industrial wastelands - polluting for profit.

For more see http://www.savingiceland.org

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