Icelandic police tear gas protesters

By VALUR GUNNARSSON and JILL LAWLESS

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Police used tear gas to break up an angry protest outside Iceland’s parliament early Thursday, and two officers were hospitalized after being hit by rocks, the force said.

It was the first time the country’s police had used tear gas in more than half a century, and came as demonstrators mount increasingly violent protests against a government they blame for leading once-prosperous Iceland into economic ruin.

Demonstrators, banging pots and honking horns, have gathered outside Reykjavik’s tiny parliament building since lawmakers returned from their winter break Tuesday

Reykjavik police chief Stefan Eiriksson said about 2,000 protesters surrounded the building late Wednesday, and some hurled fireworks, shoes, toilet paper, rocks and paving stones at the building and its police guard. He said police tried to disperse a hard core of a few hundred protesters with pepper spray before using tear gas early Thursday.

"We had to take action to split up the people and try to avoid further damage and injuries to the police," he said. "This was our last resort."

Witnesses said some demonstrators tried to stop others from throwing rocks at police.

Two police officers were hospitalized. One was released Thursday and the other remained in the hospital in stable condition, Eiriksson said.

There were no arrests.

Demonstrators also surrounded the car of Prime Minister Geir Haarde, pelting it with eggs and soda cans. Haarde’s spokesman, Kristjan Kristjansson, said the prime minister was shaken but unhurt.

Iceland’s banks collapsed in last fall 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.

A series of angry protests outside government buildings since October have drawn crowds of thousands of people, in a country of just 320,000. They are demanding the government resign and call elections.

Haarde has insisted his coalition government will not step down. By law he does not need to call elections until 2011.

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

"The government has been of the opinion that it would be irresponsible to run away from the problems," said Kristjansson, the prime minister’s spokesman. "That position has not changed, but of course protests and opposition do not make things easier"

Police chief Eiriksson said the protests were expected to continue, and he could not rule out more violence.

"This is a new situation," he said. "But everything is changing in Iceland."

AP Writer Jill Lawless reported from London.

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