Good stuff: Protests rattle Iceland's government

REYKJAVIK: A senior figure in Iceland's main governing party said Thursday that she expected early elections this year, as protesters demanded that the government resign over the country's severe economic crisis.

Iceland's banks collapsed in the autumn under the weight of huge debts amassed during years of rapid economic growth. The country's currency has plummeted, while inflation and unemployment are soaring.

In a series of increasingly violent protests, demonstrators have accused the government of leading their once-prosperous island of 320,000 people into economic ruin. Prime Minister Geir Haarde has insisted he will not resign.

Thorgerdur Gunnarsdottir, deputy leader of the center-right Independence Party, told Parliament on Thursday that she expected elections this year. Under Icelandic law, a national election does not have to be called until 2011.

Haarde's office had no comment on Gunnarsdottir's remarks.

During an angry overnight protest outside the tiny Parliament building in Reykjavik, the police used tear gas for the first time since 1949, when Icelanders protested the country's decision to join NATO.

Two officers were hospitalized after being hit by rocks.

Demonstrators also surrounded the prime minister's car Wednesday, pelting it with eggs and soda cans.

Haarde's spokesman, Kristjan Kristjansson, said the prime minister was shaken but unhurt.

The government could fall if the Social Democratic Alliance, partner to Haarde's Independence Party, were to withdraw its support. At a meeting Wednesday, the party's Reykjavik chapter called on the party to sever its alliance with the Independence Party and so trigger elections by May.

Demonstrators banging pots and honking horns have stood outside Parliament since lawmakers returned from their winter break Tuesday.

Reykjavik's police chief, Stefan Eiriksson, said that about 2,000 protesters surrounded the building late Wednesday and that some threw fireworks, shoes, toilet paper, rocks and paving stones at the building and its police guard.

He said the police tried to disperse a hard core of a few hundred protesters with pepper spray before using tear gas early Thursday. Witnesses said some demonstrators tried to stop others from throwing rocks at the police.

Two officers were hospitalized. One was released Thursday and the other remained in a hospital in stable condition, Eiriksson said. No one was arrested.
Greek farmers get offer

Greece's government on Thursday promised €500 million in financial assistance to farmers as thousands of tractors blocked the country's main highways for a third day, The Associated Press reported from Athens.

"We are starting a new course with the farmers - one of dialogue and cooperation so that all their problems can be addressed," Agriculture Minister Sotiris Hatzigakis said. "This is a final package of measures, to bolster farmers' income that will reach €500 million," about $650 million. The government has exhausted its means amid the international financial crisis."

The farmers' protests have disrupted traffic between Athens and Greece's second-largest city, Thessaloniki, and choked off truck deliveries between Greece and Bulgaria.

On Monday, the European Commission predicted that Greece's economic growth would drop sharply to 0.2 percent in 2009, despite the government's prediction of a 2.7 percent figure.

Greece's agriculture sector employs about 12 percent of the country's workforce, more than double the European Union average.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/22/europe/iceland.4-414027.php

YaY! Icelandic Government Brought Down By Credit Crunch

The government of Iceland today became the first to be effectively brought down by the credit crunch.

After several nights of rioting over the financial crisis, Prime Minister Geir Haarde, surrendered to increasing pressure and called a general election for May.

A poll would not normally be held until 2011.

Haarde also revealed that he had been diagnosed with a malignant tumour of the oesophagus and would not seek re-election.

'I have decided not to seek re-election as leader of the Independence Party at its upcoming national congress,' he told a news conference.

The global financial crisis hit Iceland, which has a population 320,000, in October, triggering a collapse in its currency and financial system under the weight of billions of dollars of foreign debts incurred by its banks

The economy is set to shrink 10 percent this year and unemployment is surging.

Critics wanted Haarde, the central bank governor and other senior officials to resign.

Some senior figures in his party have also said they favour an early election, but Haarde had up to now vowed to defy plunging popularity and stay on.

Protests had been held weekly since the crisis broke last year, but since Tuesday have been held every night.

On Thursday, police used teargas on demonstrators for the first time since protests against the North Atlantic island's entry into the NATO alliance in 1949.

Special forces had to rescue Haarde from his car after he was surrounded by an furious mob hurling eggs and cans outside the government offices, in Reykjavik.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1126682/Icelandic-government-brought-credit-crunch.html

CovOps wrote:: Haarde also revealed that he had been diagnosed with a malignant tumour of the oesophagus

:Party:

Good stuff: Protests rattle Iceland's government

Good stuff: Protests rattle Iceland's government

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