Panama
Papers leak leads to ‘largest protest’ in Iceland’s history
RT,
5
April, 2016
Thousands
of people have taken to the streets of Iceland’s capital,
Reykjavik, outraged by their Prime Minister’s alleged offshore
accounts that were brought to light in the so-called Panama Papers.
Gissur Simonarson CN
Wow! I don’t think I remember seeing the place this packed during the economic collapse!
#cashljós #panamapapers
Icelandic
Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson reportedly failed to
declare his stake in an offshore company based in the British Virgin
Islands. The revelation has made Icelanders “mad” at their
government, with some demanding a no-confidence vote and the PM’s
resignation.
Banners
reading “Elections Now” could be seen in the capital, Ice News
reported, adding that other posters around the city encourage drivers
to honk their horns in protest.
Over
10,000 Facebook users expressed their intent to attend Monday’s
protest in Reykjavik. “Over 22,000 protesters [were] confirmed in
the square” as the demonstration near the Parliament building grew,
reports on Twitter suggested.
Whistleblower
Edward Snowden suggested in a retweet that the protest might be the
“largest by percentage of population in history.”
Edward Snowden
The population of Iceland is only 330,000. Largest protest by percentage of population in history? #PanamaPapers
According
to the Iceland Monitor, people were angered not only by the
revelations of their PM’s unreported accounts, but also by his
reaction to the protest. “It’s not like everyone is going to
attend,” Gunnlaugsson said in an interview, sparking even more
fury.
When
asked by the reporter of Icelandic Channel 2 News if he had, at any
point, considered resigning in light of the latest revelations,
Gunnlaugsson said that he would not resign due to this or any other
matter, because his government had achieved “amazing results in
very important issues,” and “it’s important that it gets to
finish that work.”
He
also rejected an idea of stepping aside during the course of the
investigation, saying “Simply accusing someone of something in
order to force them to resign is not in harmony with how we want our
society to function.”
Responding
to the accusations against his wife, Anna Palsdottir, the PM stressed
that she had always paid taxes in Iceland, even while owning a
“foreign” company. According to Gunnlaugsson, it would be wrong
to label the firm an “offshore company,” as “it has always been
taxed in Iceland.”
Ásta Helgadóttir
People throwing eggs at @Althingi. The view from the inside. #panamapapers #iceland #panamaleaks #cashljós
There
have been a number of online streams broadcasting the Reykjavik
protest, but some were cut off as “the networks are overloaded,”
some users reported. One Periscope transmission suggested that the
gathering was “one of the biggest in Icelandic history,” while
other users commented, “Icelandic people always make me proud,”
“Well done Iceland, leading the way,” and even calling the Nordic
country “the hope of mankind.”
Documents
known as the Panama Papers were published on Sunday. Said to be “the
largest leak in offshore history,” the data claims to reveal the
offshore holdings of over a hundred international politicians and
public officials, including 12 current and former world leaders.
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