Roads Unknown: protests in Bogota
protests in Bogota
Today I went to go pay the rent for the month, and rather than rush to my destination as I often do, I took the time to look around. Of course, it was a little difficult not to look around today, but more on that in a bit.
Whether it's paying the rent, or for Spanish school, or anything else, when it involves walking around with (for me) large amounts of cash, I'm always a bit nervous. I've never been robbed (yet...knock-on-wood). But somehow my paranoia tells me the day I get jumped I'll be carrying a pocketful of rent money.
Anyway, back to walking the Bogota streets to the bank. As I approached Plaza Bolivar, I could hear chanting and see a crowd from a couple blocks away. There was a protest going on, for what I wasn't sure. Peaceful protests are nothing out of the ordinary here, I see them perhaps every few weeks or so, for everything from political reasons to anti-bullfighting animal rights.
Photo Credit Colombia Reports
Today's was the biggest I'd seen, however, with Plaza Bolivar overflowing with people in front of the Palace, and a crowd of onlookers around the square. I later found out that it was over 15,000 students on a march to "demand a decent budget for their universities". I kept walking down the street to find a group of riot police in full body armor with shields, and one or two with vests loaded with canisters of something which I guessed was tear-gas, leaning against the side of the graffiti-covered grocery store building.
About every other block from there, I found another half-dozen or more Colombian riot police chilling on street corners, even several blocks away from the protest. I also passed a couple Colombian SWAT armored riot vehicles, which look like tank-truck hybrids.
Probably what struck me the most was the large number of people who continued walking with little more than a glace at all the excitement, or for some, not even a glace. It reminded me that, however similar it may seem at times, it's a very different world than back home, where events like this are not necessarily out of the ordinary.
Whether it's paying the rent, or for Spanish school, or anything else, when it involves walking around with (for me) large amounts of cash, I'm always a bit nervous. I've never been robbed (yet...knock-on-wood). But somehow my paranoia tells me the day I get jumped I'll be carrying a pocketful of rent money.
Anyway, back to walking the Bogota streets to the bank. As I approached Plaza Bolivar, I could hear chanting and see a crowd from a couple blocks away. There was a protest going on, for what I wasn't sure. Peaceful protests are nothing out of the ordinary here, I see them perhaps every few weeks or so, for everything from political reasons to anti-bullfighting animal rights.
Photo Credit Colombia Reports
Today's was the biggest I'd seen, however, with Plaza Bolivar overflowing with people in front of the Palace, and a crowd of onlookers around the square. I later found out that it was over 15,000 students on a march to "demand a decent budget for their universities". I kept walking down the street to find a group of riot police in full body armor with shields, and one or two with vests loaded with canisters of something which I guessed was tear-gas, leaning against the side of the graffiti-covered grocery store building.
About every other block from there, I found another half-dozen or more Colombian riot police chilling on street corners, even several blocks away from the protest. I also passed a couple Colombian SWAT armored riot vehicles, which look like tank-truck hybrids.
Probably what struck me the most was the large number of people who continued walking with little more than a glace at all the excitement, or for some, not even a glace. It reminded me that, however similar it may seem at times, it's a very different world than back home, where events like this are not necessarily out of the ordinary.