Another protest was held last Saturday but was still peaceful except for some egg and toilet paper throwing at the parliament building. Lenses used: Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 , Tokina 12-24mm f/4 , Nikkor-Q 200mm f/4
#1 - Protest area
#2 - People want heads to fly
#3 - Woman put flower in toilet paper on the door of the parliament building
#4 - closeup
#5 - Children take parts too (Left sign: "Everyone protests!" Right sign: "We demand elections!")
#6 - Krona (our local currency) dies, Geir! Adopt Euros Björgvin!
#7 - 8 thousand people took the streets, similar as 8 million would protest in the US.
#8 - "New Iceland NOW!"
#9 - People throw toilet paper at the parliament
#10 - Some gave the police flowers
#11 - "Stop the corruption" (blue letters)
#12 - Various signs
#13 - "We want government with oversight. Adopt the EURO. Professional board of directors over the central bank. Investigation by foreign people!"
#14 - Various signs and toilet paper
#15 - People wanted to get in to their parliament building
#16 - Protesters were of all age.
#17 - Protesters were of all age.
#18 - We got independence in 1944 and this sign declares death of independence 2008.
I know these are lot of photographs but hopefully I advanced a little during the week from last post.
Seth Tower wrote:
Isn't the economy collapsing everywhere? Are they wanting to adopt the Euro? What's with all the toilet paper?
Very good shots, by the way. Great emotionHi Seth and thanks for your comments.
Well maybe it's collapsing everywhere but tell me in what country all financial system is just destroyed over night leaving only very small banks barely alive? And where their currency has dropped 70% against USD and 90% against the Euro. Yes, people of Iceland want to change currency from ISK to EUR.
The toilet paper is for the corrupted politicians to clean up their asses!
If I recall correctly, Icelandic banks had assets worth 10 times Iceland's GDP with debt to match and the 3 major banks all went under.
It seems like that a good comparison might be to say that the credit crunch in the US was like having your foot run over by a smart car braking a toe or two whilst Iceland got run over by an 18 wheeler.
el_hoppy, we got independence from Denmark in 1944. And yes, your remember correctly in fact they had 10-12 times Iceland's GDP in assets and debt to match. Maybe this could have been avoided if the central bank hadn't tried to take over one of the bank Glitnir which caused a spiral effect down... the gov lost their good credit rating and then the other two banks (Landsbankinn and Kaupþing) also lost their lending lines. So all our major banks was reduced to ruins in one week!
This had also the effect that international business was compromised and it has been difficult for stores to get products from vendors because they started to ask for upfront payments.
The currency market have also been on hold for 5-6 weeks now! Which means that we are almost only importing necessities products.
Sorry to take this waaaay off topic - but is now a good time to travel to Iceland?
I'll be doing the standard mid-20's two month backpacking trip across europe starting in March. I'm not trying to make fun of your situation at all, but when the local currency is down 70% against the dollar, that the kind of situation which will allow me to spend as much time as possible visiting. I've heard absolutely beautiful things about your contry and its people and would love the chance to see it for myself.
Jonathan, yes this is very good time to travel to Iceland... it has gone from one of the most expensive place to visit to cheap place (for those who have foreign currencies - very expensive for us local people).
