Friday, June 01, 2007
Never leave home without it.
As expected, the "peaceful" student protests have died down. There are supposed to be some more rallies this weekend and that will probably do it.
While the protests haven't amounted to much they certainly have had their humorous side. For example, it turns out the opposition has an interesting definition of "peaceful". It would appear that as long they aren't shooting off howitzers or blowing up police vehicles with IEDs they consider their rallies "peaceful". Most ordinary people though probably wouldn't consider this peaceful:
Kind of reminds me of these "peacefull" opposition protests of years gone by:
I don't know about you, but I never go to a peaceful rally without bringing along my gas mask and slingshot. You know, just in case.
I must admit though, it appears that the Venezuelan police have overreacted in some cases. For example, in the middle of Caracas some hapless students were arrested by the police just for standing by a fire. The heavy handed police automatically assumed they were protesting. As it turns out they had just started a campfire to roast some marshmellows. The police really need to stop being so paranoid.
BTW, later in the video we see some self-less and brave leaders of NGOs making sure rock throwers don't have their rights violated (you know, like arbitary confiscation of their rocks by the police - due process must be respected!). As is pointed out, it's really a shame these same NGOs didn't seem to exist on April 12, 2002.
Finally from the video, should people really be judged by how they dress. Just because a bunch of Catholic school girls show up in jeans rather than their traditional uniforms doesn't mean they're hooligans. I mean really, would you wear $200 designer jeans to a riot?
Well, ok, this being Venezuela, maybe people do.
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While the protests haven't amounted to much they certainly have had their humorous side. For example, it turns out the opposition has an interesting definition of "peaceful". It would appear that as long they aren't shooting off howitzers or blowing up police vehicles with IEDs they consider their rallies "peaceful". Most ordinary people though probably wouldn't consider this peaceful:
Kind of reminds me of these "peacefull" opposition protests of years gone by:
I don't know about you, but I never go to a peaceful rally without bringing along my gas mask and slingshot. You know, just in case.
I must admit though, it appears that the Venezuelan police have overreacted in some cases. For example, in the middle of Caracas some hapless students were arrested by the police just for standing by a fire. The heavy handed police automatically assumed they were protesting. As it turns out they had just started a campfire to roast some marshmellows. The police really need to stop being so paranoid.
BTW, later in the video we see some self-less and brave leaders of NGOs making sure rock throwers don't have their rights violated (you know, like arbitary confiscation of their rocks by the police - due process must be respected!). As is pointed out, it's really a shame these same NGOs didn't seem to exist on April 12, 2002.
Finally from the video, should people really be judged by how they dress. Just because a bunch of Catholic school girls show up in jeans rather than their traditional uniforms doesn't mean they're hooligans. I mean really, would you wear $200 designer jeans to a riot?
Well, ok, this being Venezuela, maybe people do.
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