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Planned protests in Reykjavik over the government's failing to close on an International Monetary Fund loan could be a harbinger of things to come in Europe.

A large demonstration is expected to occur in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Nov. 15 to protest the failure of the government to clinch a $2.1 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Observers estimate that the number of protesters could reach as high as 20,000 people over the weekend, a huge number for a country of only 320,000 inhabitants. While there is little chance of violence during the protest — or that it will worsen Iceland’s already critical financial woes — social unrest caused by the economic crisis in Iceland could suggest what other countries may soon be facing.

Iceland had one of the world’s largest gross domestic products (GDPs) per capita in 2007, at over $62,000 — roughly double the EU average and significantly higher than the U.S. figure of $45,790. Expanding 500 percent between 1975 and the current financial crisis, Iceland’s GDP grew exponentially over the last decade as the economy became dominated by international banking.