Documentary revisits Iceland’s violent 1949 NATO protests

A new documentary offers a fresh perspective on the protests and clashes that followed Iceland’s entry into NATO in 1949, mbl.is reports. The film was made by Guðmundur Atli Hlynsson, a RÚV reporter and master’s student in cultural management at the University of Iceland.

The documentary, titled 1949, focuses on the unrest at Austurvöllur on 30 March 1949. Guðmundur has now submitted the film and its accompanying written thesis as his final master’s project, under the title The New Riot Film: A Documentary About the Riots of 30 March 1949.

In the thesis, Guðmundur writes that several filmmakers were at or near Austurvöllur that day, recording the crowds and the unrest. It is not known exactly how many filmmakers were present, how many cameras they had or why they filmed the events.

The footage was used to make 11 newsreels, including an American newsreel that contains material also found in the other films.

The documentary shows large numbers of protesters gathering at Austurvöllur. The demonstration begins peacefully, but clashes with police gradually break out and intensify. Toward the end, the violence becomes severe when a civilian reserve force, secretly brought into the Alþingi parliament building before the protests, emerges onto the square.

Police eventually use tear gas, one of only a few occasions on which it has been used in Iceland. The closest example mentioned in the article is the use of tear gas during the so-called Pots and Pans Revolution in 2009.

Footage filmed from Hotel Borg, which gave the camera operators a clear view of the square, is particularly important to the film. It shows the clashes from above and captures a period when police outside the Alþingi parliament building appeared close to being overwhelmed, until the reserve force joined the confrontation.

Two sides of the dispute

All the footage is silent, but music by Magnús Jóhann adds significantly to the film. An audio recording of a speech by then Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson provides an important introduction and establishes the position of the Icelandic authorities in 1949.

The protesters’ position is conveyed through the clashes and the intensity of the crowd. They opposed the unarmed country joining a military alliance without the issue ever being put to the public.

Guðmundur said he was convinced that some people had been present simply out of curiosity, while many others clearly understood that major events could unfold. The tension was high.