on my walk home from my meeting with my boss, i walked past 'plaza de mayo'. this plaza lies in front of the president's house, so it's a popular spot to hold protests. today there must have been an important protest on the schedule.
i walked down a street that was closed off to cars and standing on the side walk, in a line, were 10-15 police with riot shields, batons and what looked like baseball catchers gear for their shins.
once i reached 'plaza de mayo' a police tank was parked along the curb. it was a huge, fitted with a cage around the windshield and there were two very large machine guns fixed to the top. (i'd like to believe they were water guns, but i know that's being naive). next to the 'water gun' tank was a police bus. it looked like a normal city bus, but was painted with the police colors (dark blue and light blue). was it to provide transportation for the police or the protesters? not sure.
(i really wanted to take a photo, but i was too intimidated and just wanted to move on...)
1 comment:
The cops, riot police, tanks etc. are stationed permanently at the Casa Rosada. Given how badly they mismanage the country, generations of Presidents have kept them nearby just in case the populace should rise up en masse and storm the place (not an unthinkable occurence, at least one Argentine president has had to flee the baying mob in the Plaza de Mayo via helicopter)
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