cyu
2nd January 2009, 00:23
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5htieYqASzIvKOfKAGOO7BvxEjzsgD95DUANO0
For more than two decades, the leaders of Iceland's political parties have met every New Year's Eve over champagne and spiced herring to talk about the year ahead on Iceland's Channel 2 television.
But this year's show with Prime Minister Geir Haarde was cut short 45 minutes into the program when a torch-wielding crowd stormed Reykjavik's Hotel Borg in an attempt to get to the studio.
The program cut to commercials, followed by an announcement that Channel 2's equipment had been damaged and the show would be suspended.
The disruption was the latest in a series of demonstrations that have rocked Iceland since the country's economy imploded this fall under a mammoth load of bad debt. Unemployment has increased and inflation has soared.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we4ZMgc3V6w
For more than two decades, the leaders of Iceland's political parties have met every New Year's Eve over champagne and spiced herring to talk about the year ahead on Iceland's Channel 2 television.
But this year's show with Prime Minister Geir Haarde was cut short 45 minutes into the program when a torch-wielding crowd stormed Reykjavik's Hotel Borg in an attempt to get to the studio.
The program cut to commercials, followed by an announcement that Channel 2's equipment had been damaged and the show would be suspended.
The disruption was the latest in a series of demonstrations that have rocked Iceland since the country's economy imploded this fall under a mammoth load of bad debt. Unemployment has increased and inflation has soared.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we4ZMgc3V6w