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Iceland chilled by violence worthy of its noir novels
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Police officers take part in a training at a place of training in Reykjavik, Iceland on March 22, 2022. (AFP/Halldor Kolbeins)
L
ong considered the "most peaceful country in the world", Iceland's tranquillity has been shattered by a spate of shootings and stabbings involving criminal gangs.
The country of only 375,000 people is more accustomed to reading about murders in its famed Icelandic noir novels than in its morning newspapers.
"A gun for Icelanders symbolises sports" or hunting, said sociologist Helgi Gunnlaugsson.
"It's very alien to the Icelandic mind that you would use a weapon to protect yourself or to point at people," he told AFP.
Iceland has topped the Global Peace Index ranking since 2008 thanks to its low crime, strong education and welfare systems, fair pay and an absence of tension between social classes.
Only four people have been shot dead in more than two decades.
But four shootings have now taken place in a little over a year, one of which was fatal.
