PM decries “attack on democracy egged on by president”

Four people are dead after armed rioters entered the Capitol Building following a Trump rally.

“Of course, I was totally shocked when I saw the first news about it. We see this venerable institution which is about to confirm the result of a democratic election. And it is then attacked at the encouragement of the outgoing president,” she said. 

Katrín adds that she is still a great believer in American democracy and that the reaction of Congress to the shocking events was also an important moment. “Everyone’s shocked, but it’s clearly important that Congress then started work again and finished its job and stood together in that regard. There were casualties and one is extremely shaken to see the anti-democratic action of such an attack,” she says. “It is extremely serious to disrupt the work of Congress,” Katrín adds. 

Despite the shock, yesterday’s events did not come as a total surprise to the Icelandic PM: “A lot of conversation has occurred, of course, about how the discourse of these people has developed in an anti-democratic direction.” 

The US embassy in Reykjavík responded to an interview request from RÚV saying it has been instructed to redirect all such enquiries to the State Department in Washington DC. 
 
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