1949 anti-NATO riot in Iceland

[1] Several hundred protesters first convened behind a school in the centre of Reykjavík and then marched on Austurvöllur, a small park in front of the parliament building, where a throng of people had already arrived positioning themselves between the parliament and the rioters, intending to defend it.

Rocks and eggs were tossed at the building, some breaking the windows and one narrowly missing the head of the Parliamentary president, until the Reykjavík police force, aided by volunteers from the Independence Party intervened, beating rioters down and eventually launching tear gas grenades at the rioters.

In 1974, the government proposed closing down the Keflavik base, but a petition campaign gathered a quarter of the population's signatures.

[4] On 30 September 2006, the US Navy unilaterally withdrew the last of its military force from Keflavík airport.

[5] In 2017, the United States announced its intention to construct a modern air base on the peninsula.