Protests During Financial Crisis

Date: January 20, 2009 • Location: Kópavogur, Iceland

During a national financial crisis, thousands of people protested (pictured) at the Icelandic parliament in Reykjavík.

A major financial crisis took place in Iceland between 2008 and 2010. It involved the default of all three of the country's major privately owned commercial banks in late 2008, following problems in refinancing their short-term debt and a run on deposits in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Relative to the size of its economy, Iceland's systemic banking collapse was the largest of any country in economic history. The crisis led to a severe recession and the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests.