Icelanders flock to the presidents residence Bessastadir on January 2th, asking him to veto a bill that would make the debt burden of the Icelandic nation unbearable. Nearly a quarter of Icelandic voters signed a petition asking the president to veto a bill on repaying $5 billion lost by British and Dutch savers when the island's banks collapsed. The bank LÍ "National Bank of Iceland" had been privatized many years before the collapse and Icelanders do not understand why ordinary people in Iceland are responsible for private banks operating in Britain and Holland and serving British and Dutch customers. A campaign led by InDefence, a grass-roots activist group, has secured almost 50,000 signatures, nearly a quarter of all adults. InDefence was launched in late 2008 by British-educated citizens outraged by Londons use of anti-terror laws to freeze Icelandic assets, an unprecedented insult for a close NATO ally.