Yesterday we celebrated the Icelandic national holiday, the day Iceland became officially an independent nation in 1944 as well as the birthday of Jón Sigurðsson, the head of the Icelandic independence movement in the 19th century.

The traditional celebration is to head downtown with the kids, eat candyfloss and hot dogs and participate in festivities ranging from the strongest man competition to an open air concert.

This year one of the activities was a protest on Austurvöllur in front of the parliament during the speeches of the president and prime minister (who got booed a lot during his speech filled with forced optimism for Iceland and his government).

Opinions on the protest were divided. Some were complaining that the protesters were ruining the day for the children. Others found that a protest was in the spirit of Jón Sigurðsson who had stood up with his fellow delegates of the constitutional assembly after their bid for independence from Denmark was unceremoniously dismissed by the royal representative and said in unison

Vér mótmælum allir!

- We all protest!