Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.08.2015, Blaðsíða 6

Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.08.2015, Blaðsíða 6
6 The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 1 — 20116 The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 2 — 2015 According to several eyewitness and firsthand accounts, police searched the bags and pockets of multiple attendees. Some guests were reportedly made to disrobe. Police also went so far as to go into the unoccupied tents of guests. Po- lice activities weren’t confined to the festival grounds, either. They reportedly stopped a bus en route to the event, order- ing all the foreigners off of the bus. The police then went onto the bus, where the Icelanders left on board were questioned and searched. None of this, incidentally, is legal. The headlines after the event more or less parroted what West Iceland Police said in a statement: that there were 29 drug arrests at a festival of 200 people. (West Iceland Police did not respond to requests for a comment.) Festival organisers immediately sent out a statement on the events of the past weekend. “This year, the police held our festival guests in a death grip from the moment they arrived, and went way over the line as far as we are concerned,” the organis- ers wrote. “We greeted numerous guests in the festival entrance who were in ut- ter shock, and did not trust themselves to go back to the camping area after the encroachment and abuse of power of the police.” Soon thereafter, they called upon all festivalgoers who were subject to police scrutiny to come to a closed meeting, with a lawyer, who would re- view testimony and video footage taken by the guests. The results of that meeting have yet to be announced at the time of this writing. Why this festival? “I find it kind of strange that a very small music festival, that is held in a tiny fishing village where the community celebrates the event—which has never had any trou- ble with any form of violence or property damage whatsoever—was the target of such massive search and seizure tactics by the police,” Morgunblaðið journalist Davið Már Stefánsson, who was at the event, told us. “Just to be clear, I appreci- ate the presence of the police and hate the kind of discourse that paints all police ac- tivity as some kind of brute coercion. But I think entering tents without permission with detection dogs, while guests are far away enjoying music, putting up road- blocks and searching attendees over and over again while refusing to provide any sort of probable cause is just a tad bit dra- matic—if not illegal. ” Davíð isn’t alone in his reservations about making a small music festival the focus of such an intense police effort. Stefán Magnússon—who runs the east Iceland metal festival Eistnaflug, which saw some 3,000 guests last year—told us that they never had any problems with the police. “I have to admit, I don’t understand how things work in this country,” he told us. “I don’t understand why the police don’t show up with drug dogs at Indepen- dence Party conventions or the Frostró- sir Christmas concert and sniff around there. Is it because if you’re in a suit and have a political party logo on your lapel, you get a chance, but if you’re wearing a woollen sweater, then you’re clearly questionable?” Grímur Atlason—who runs Iceland Airwaves, a multi-venue festival that sees thousands of at- tendees each year—was similarly baffled by the overzealous police. “It’s very strange how the police force works,” he wrote on Facebook. “In the Westman Islands, you may not talk about one type of crime, but only while the [annual Merchant’s Week- end] festival is going on. In Snæfellsnes, on the other hand, [police] go way over the line, and then send out this dramatic description of the ‘horror’ that greeted the four drug dogs and the police squad at this 200-person festival under a gla- cier. Trying to disparage the festival and its guests in order to justify the means.” The law is (probably) on your side Davíð believes last weekend’s police op- erations can be chalked up to one simple factor: the genre of music performed and celebrated at Extreme Chill. “It‘s clear that the Icelandic police authorities link the electronic music scene with substance abuse,” he told us. “In 2014, the police showed up at Harpa with detection dogs while Sónar Reykja- vík was in full swing, something that was unheard of at that time. I’ve been work- ing as a cultural journalist for four years now, and never have I witnessed such an extreme approach. We need clarification on what probable cause really entails and what rights people have when being searched.” The legal point is an important one. As Pétur Þorsteinsson, director of civil rights group Snarrótin, told us, the law can be murky when it comes to situations like this, but our civil rights remain clear. “The big problem is that almost every paragraph in the chap- ter on human rights in our constitution ends with some exceptions from the protection given in the para- graph,” he told us. “But the police also break the law, for example, by forcing people to accept searches by threats and by their world- famous ability to smell illicit smoke, even where it does not exist. The obvious use of musical profiling is a special case, al- lowing the police to harass people that like techno music, but leave us, the clas- sical rock and opera freaks, alone.” Pétur advises that festivalgoers adopt a “just say no” policy to being searched, as is well within your rights if the police officer asking to search you or your be- longings has no warrant. He does recog- nise, however, the human component in that advice. “That's easier said than done, when you are confronted by rude and rogue policemen,” he said. “But that's the only way, and we have several documented incidents where the police gave in when the suspects knew their rights to be left alone and dared to stand up against op- pression. Knowing your rights and de- fending them, wherever needed, is the way to go.” Words by Paul Fontaine Photos by Pan Thorarensen The Extreme Chill Music Festival is not exactly the row- diest scene, as the name might attest. It’s more known for being a small gathering of people listening to electronic music played live. But last weekend, it became the focus of a police operation that would make headlines and draw criticism for overzealous and possibly illegal tactics that are virtually unheard of at larger events. News | ACAB "The obvious use of musical profiling is a special case, al- lowing the police to harass people that like techno music, but leave us, the classical rock and opera freaks, alone.” Compare Prices and Read Reviews on Tripadvisor www.bustravel.is Tel: +354 511 2600 · info@bustravel.is · bustravel.is Exciting Day Tours – Beautiful Places – “Excellent tour of Golden Circle, Reykjavik.” Collected and returned to cruise ship. Excellent trip and would definitely recommend. The price was approx. one-third of the cruise excursion.No problems with booking over the internet. Fantastic. Visited May 2015 By Nanna Árnadóttir NEWS IN BRIEF Don’t believe the hype. Despite plenty of news coverage detail- ing dangerous stunts by tourists in the past few months, Iceland- ers still love you guys! According to a new poll from Market and Media Research, 80% of Iceland- ers feel good about tourists in Iceland. Another thing Icelanders agree on this month is that it’s great to be gay in Iceland. In the wake of another success- ful Pride weekend, a Gallup poll shows 86% of Icelanders believe their country is a great place to be gay, though respondents were not asked how well Iceland treats trans folk (get with the pro- gramme Gallup, there’s a “T” in LGBTQIA!). While being gay in Iceland is great, being a seal is less cool. Earlier this month an adorable chubby baby seal made a brave escape from Reykjavík Family Park And Zoo. The youngster was eventually tracked down and despite resisting a police officer (by biting him) he was dragged back to the zoo, and promptly EUTHANISED AND FED TO OTHER ZOO ANIMALS. Note to readers, don’t piss off the zoo. Continues Over... Extremely Unchill How Police Went Too Far At A Music Festival
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