protests

Yesterday on my way to Spanish class there was a massive protest that was becoming a bit dramatic and not so civil.

I had crossed the river into Bellavista and noticed there were hordes of people crossing at the next bridge, the carabinieros (police) were out in full force, though at the moment, everything seemed quite peaceful.

I began walking up the street towards language class and suddenly, these students which had been loitering around the corner (think teenagers) suddenly began screaming and shouting and running up the street, looking behind their shoulders as they passed me. Needless to say, I was a little nervous. I could hear sirens, but couldn't see anything and I didn't know why the kids were literally running away. (My favorite Spanish verb, by the way: huir: to run away, to escape.)

This continued the further I walked up the street, and I also noticed that the shops were closing their doors and pulling down the chain-link fence that stores use for extra protection. Fortunately, I met Piedad at this time, and she hurried me into our building, after refusing to hide of the kids.

It turns out the probably what began as a peaceful protest against the inequality between the public and private education system became less so. Often times, random people in the street will use the opportunity of a protest to take out their aggression against the Carabinieros by throwing rocks and such. Not that bright of an idea. Clearly, this has the result of the Carabinieros fighting back and I guess that's when the tear-gas was used.

Piedad and I were sitting in our room and both started sneezing and I had to blow my nose about 8 times because the tear-gas had infiltrated our room. Not pleasant. It eventually dispersed, but I definitely was rather nervous the rest the day, and especially as I walked back to my apartment. However, it fortunately had quieted down and didn't last much longer. Exciting!

One thing that it certainly highlighted was how easy it is to manipulate a crowd, and how difficult it is for people to think for themselves when other people around them are panicking. Granted, there were about a 100 kids running around me screaming, and though I didn't run, or scream, my heart started beating faster and I definitely felt the fear that was translated by their actions.