Fifteen Thousand Protest Dam

Around fifteen thousand citizens of Reykjavik joined television journalist and environmental activist Ómar Ragnarsson last night on a protest walk down Laugavegur to Austurvöllur in the city centre. People were backing Ragnarsson's plea to the Government and the Iceland Power Company to postpone the filling of Hálslón lagoon in the east highlands. Ragnarsson has put forward the idea that energy for the Alcoa factory in Reyðarfjörður should come from geothermal areas in north-east Iceland, thus sparing the river Jökla and the Hjalladalur valley.

Ragnarsson made a powerful speech at Austurvöllur, in an emotional moment which had many in tears as images of the east highlands were shown on a large screen behind him.

Protest walks also took place in Akureyri,Ísafjörður and Egilstaðir at the same time. As a response, the National Power Company has said that they will of course go forward with the filling of the lagoon, and that the Kárahnjúkar dam and Reyðarfjörður aluminium factory will be very beneficial for Iceland's economy. The water will start flowing into Hálslón, tomorrow, Thursday.