Protest

Not seconds after writing that last paragraph, I heard sudden, more frantic cries from the crowds. It was the sound of what was obviously groups of people reacting to a brusque movement or unpleasant turn of events. I hopped up to my window and looked down below to see that half the people had fled the plaza, and that they were frantically running up my tiny little one-way street, shooting out snot rockets and hacking as they trampled one another to get to fresher air. I'm assuming pepper gas was used. The plaza is now hazy and crazy and the mood has obviously changed - there now seems to be a sort of urgency to their protest. I had been planning on walking down to ask a few people some details about the from wheres and where tos, but I think I'll now just peacefully observe the whole thing from my sixth/seventh floor window.

I just saw the riot police beat down on someone from up here. They chased him as he ran away in their little helmeted heads and their big club sticks. I only take solace in the fact that somebody clearly caught the whole thing on film; I saw several camera flashes go off at the time of the assault. It was like that beginning scene from "La Haine."

Someone threw a large firecracker or something like that - it let off a blast of light and some sort of smoke that sent people running. Nevertheless, the ruthless protestors are still pouring in from the main street they have been coming from since this all started almost an hour ago.

Their chants are now accompanied by drum beats, and those that have just come upon the plaza and those that have decided to stay have taken to singing up in unison.

An occasionally loud booing comes from he crowd; I assume this is from when the riot police go after someone new. My window is open and whatever they had let loose in the plaza is seeping in - I'm going to have to go close it. I don't know how the people below can stand it - it is so thick I can see it hovering above the entire plaza in a hazy, orange cloud above the crowd.

Over an hour into the protest: I have to stop looking out my window - or at least watch the action in small doses - the air hurts my eyes and they tear immediately, and I can't see what is going on. The people below seem alright, I guess it has just worked its way upwards. All my neighbors that had jumped to look out have now shut both the windows and the volets. Maybe they just want to eat their dinner in peace. There is a group of Spanish-speaking tourists at the hotel next to me that have gotten the entire thing on video. I regret that my little camera is out of batteries.

I turned on RFI (French radio channel that I listen to via the website) to see if I could hear anything. They began talking about an unexpected protest, thousands of people, freaking the government out, what have you. It turns out it had been in Cairo, but for a brief moment I was excited that I was watching live an event that was being reported on internationally.

There is a homeless man who sits shivering every day on the corner of my street and the plaza, right in front of the pharmacy. He has not yet left his spot, even during the exodus of people right after the riot control stuff was dropped. The guy in the apartment across the street from me (not the guy who sees me naked) is watching CNN. I can see it through his window.

The world is going crazy.

**editorial note: a few minutes after posting this, I saw from a far distance what looked like an enormous black snake inching its way (horizontally) along the street. It turned out to be the little men in helmets that had formed a human wall walking forward so as to contain the protestors. Backing them were at least 15 police cars. Sometimes they would lash out at people, but mainly they are just standing there. And have been for the last half hour or so. Just cutting the plaza entirely in half with their little helmeted heads.

**second editorial note: crazy stuff. The helmet-heads pushed everyone onto my tiny street. They started running and hollering and jumping on all the cars. Then they started charging, and people ran into nearby restaurants and corner stores. The nice guy who sells me Mentos every day got a few of his oranges and bananas stolen. The guy that runs the sex shop across the street filled his store with as many people as possible and then shut the grill so that the riot police would think he was closed. I saw at least twenty people go in there. It's a very small store. I like to think about them all standing uncomfortably around the sex toys and pornographic movies. It ended with a showdown on Odessa Street. I counted - a total of 15 police cars stopped took over my street. Well, police vans, because they're vans in Paris. Most people agreed to disperse once the hemet-types started beating on a few innocent people. I had to write a paper this evening, but who can resist a live protest with beatings happening just six floors below?