protests and ecotage at road building site in Iceland

28.10.13

[from a main­tream news­pa­per:] Equip­ment at the Gál­gahraun lava field — where con­struc­tion of a con­tro­ver­sial new road is planned — was sab­o­taged by van­dal­ism last night.

As report­ed last week, pro­test­ers were arrest­ed at the lava fields for refus­ing to move out of the way of road con­struc­tion equip­ment. The pro­posed road, Álf­tanesve­g­ur, is planned to pass through a pro­tect­ed lava field, which has prompt­ed pub­lic resis­tance in the form of direct action.

Vísir now reports that con­struc­tion work­ers arrived at the site this morn­ing to find that some­one (or some peo­ple) had poured grav­el into the fuel tanks of the machines, ren­der­ing them use­less.

Lava Friends — the organ­i­sa­tion that has protest­ed road con­struc­tion at Gál­gahraun most promi­nent­ly — denied any involve­ment with the sab­o­tage, say­ing, “Lava Friends do not use vio­lence nor ruin the pri­vate prop­er­ty of oth­ers. Lava Friends speak on behalf of nature, and know that nature will win in the end.”