Cav's Place

Yesterday was scheduled something which was supposed to be somewhere between a protest and a public debate, the debate part being that which interested me, because the “hardcore” group which generally gather at the Fountain in University Square had announced that they were going to present their proposed solutions and also ask any other participants to add their own to the list as well instead of doing nothing but saying who and what they don’t want. So, seeing as I’ve been asking all protesters to come up with solutions all along, I wrote down an overview of the electoral reform I have in mind, which would be my primary request from the current politicians and also my main requirement before I could see any calls for resignation, impeachment and so on as being able to solve anything, and went, wondering if anything will come out of it. Unfortunately, as it could have been somewhat expected, nothing did, at least not before I left, because the gendarmes weren’t about to allow it.

If I include myself despite wandering around instead of sitting with the rest, ten of us were waiting around the metro station entrance when three gendarmes showed up and asked for identification, which made me become even more edgy and eventually wander off for a while. By the time I returned, the three were gone, but two returned soon after and continued debating with the organizer of the event, apparently quite casually, before said organizer led the rest of us to the location where the event was actually supposed to take place, with the gendarmes in tow but taking their time.
Once there, a few guys took to waving the flag they had brought and unrolling the one large banner they had, which was just a call to discuss and debate, without mentioning any specific issues or names. However, that was obviously too much for the gendarmes, who immediately crossed the street to pester the organizer again. Or, more exactly, those two merely pestered him, but then two others came, along with one of those trucks used for arrests, shouting at the poor guy from some 30 centimeters away through a loudspeaker and saying that we had to clear the area because it was an unauthorized gathering and we were supposedly blocking the road and disturbing the passersby, even though we were just a few people leaning against the fence, some even standing on it and therefore taking up no space whatsoever on the sidewalk, and generally being quiet with the exception of the organizer who kept trying to talk to them, while they were standing right on the bicycle lane and shouting through a loudspeaker.
Still, most of us did scatter a little after what appeared to be a final warning and watched from a few meters away as a few guys were still trying to discuss the matter with the gendarmes, until they decided to give up as well, with the organizer apparently leaving the banner there and leading us away while waving the flag and asking out loud what law will they claim he’ll be breaking next if he’ll simply wander through the city waving the country’s flag. The gendarmes were also still following us as well, but we also seemed to have grown slightly in number, with some five or so people added to the group, at least one being a passerby who had apparently decided to join in for a while after witnessing the gendarmes’ behavior.
But that was pretty much the end of it for me. The group seemed to have split, I tried to keep up with the six who were in front, but soon they noticed that the others appeared to have stopped and stopped as well while I kept going. I meant to get back to them, but was already quite edgy because of the whole situation and one guy had also suggested to the organizer that we should go to some sort of bar or restaurant nearby where a lot of people seemed to be and see if we can gather some more from there, and I was really not keen on that. So I kept going, all the way to the University Square, had a look around there as well, then went all the way back to the original location before giving up completely after failing to spot the group again but spotting a couple of cars belonging to the gendarmerie waiting behind trees, possibly just in order to quickly react in case the group would have tried to return.

Now I’m left with that overview of the electoral reform I have in mind, written down and printed out, so at least I finally did that thanks to this… But it’s not like it was of any use, seeing as I didn’t even show it to anyone while there and feel too edgy to even post it anywhere or send it to any of the organizers now. So, in the end, I more or less just wandered around for a couple of hours on a hot summer day without accomplishing anything… Though you can say that I at least attempted to take part in my first protest, or event, on political and social themes, seeing as I have so far avoided all of these, both because I couldn’t join in when I didn’t see actual solutions being brought forward, or at least none that I could actually support, and because these situations with the gendarmes are a given whenever something like this is announced.

Otherwise, today and for the next two days the temperatures are supposed to approach 40°C in the shade again, possibly even going slightly over that value on Tuesday, so I’ll be watching my computer’s temperatures carefully again, especially since it claimed to have very briefly overheated two or three more times even after I tried to clean it inside… And I’ll see whether I can just go on a couple of hours of sleep and wake up around 8 AM, if not even earlier, tomorrow to follow any announcements regarding Curiosity‘s landing.