Iceland protests turn violent

Protests and confrontation in Iceland's capital Reykjavik escalated today when riots police and demonstrators clashed in the early hours of the morning. As a result two police officers were seriously injured and the police used tear gas for the first time in nearly 60 years to break up the demonstration.Thousands of Icelanders have been gathering outside the parliament of the tiny Scandinavian nation to protest the present coalition government's handling of the recent financial crisis which has stalled the country's economy and left the island with debt ten times its annual GNP.

Prime minister, Geir H. Haarde also bore the brunt of protestor's wrath when his car was surrounded by demonstrators who shouted anti - government slogans and banged pots and pans, requiring the intervention of the police before he could leave. Such protests are unprecedented in modern Icelandic history.

Days of rage

Tomorrow I'm going to be interviewed by the BBC about what is happening here in Greece.

I just spent the evening taking part in a protest march and the situation seems out of control here. I have never seen such rage and frustration in all the time I've lived here. the city aapears to have been abandoned by the police they haven't even bothered closing off area where the riots are taking place, so letting hapless drivers wander into the hot zones.

All I saw them do is fire off round after round of tear gas and then wait for people to leave. The thing is that they didn't. They regrouped and then marched.

The state run media which is about as reliable a source of information as my mate down the pub is spinning the events across the country as some kind of conspiracy which has to be put down. The truth is that the situation is not so simple and much of what we see is the result of years of anger over what has been going on in the country over the last few years. Rising unemployment, galloping inflation, lack of opportunities and a seemingly endless list of government scandals have left many Greeks feeling that there are no more choices.