September 29th: The Protest

Zara's on Paseseig de Grácia

On wednesday September 29th, IES informed me I should not come to school on this day, under no circumstances. This was the day a nationwide protest was to be held. One thing being protested was that the retirement age is going to be raised two years. Many slogans simply discussed the dire state the economy is.

The class I am taking at UB( University of Barcelona) was not canceled, our teacher candidly informed us that” the protesters might come in and force us to end class , in which case we will just leave”.

I decided that a protest was not something I could miss if I really wanted to understand current politics in Spain, as well as the Spanish culture.

I was able to catch the very last train leaving for Pl. Cataluyna at 8:00 a.m. When I stepped onto the train, there were a few others, it was completely silent and it seemed like something was in the air; anticipation, fear?

          I was standing out of Farggio, a chain Café, for about thirty minutes. I  was suprised that it was stilll open because  the picket lines were supposed to have been made as early as 4 a.m.  After thirty  minutes four young male adults( early to mid 20s) walked over to the front of the café and stood in front of it. They were all dressed in faded black clothing, wearing red scarfs around their neck, and a couple of them had their hair in the mullet style that is popular here. While they were crossing the street, one of them blared a noise maker making everyone in the vicinity jump a bit.

A bus is covered in slogan stickers, stopped in the middle of the street,
A group of people help peel the stickers off so the bus driver can move onwards.

       Keep in mind, the  protest has not reached its full potential yet, the sound of hundreds of protesters in the distance, was in the air but they were still a ways off from Pl Cayaluña.

            When I walked back in that direction I saw that not only were the glass doors of Farggio firmly locked, but an object resembling a freezer, ice cream and popsicles are kept in, was shoved against the doors.

            For the most part groups containing forty or so protestors would stop traffic for about about five minutes, shout chants and cover every shop window with slogan sticker, and then they would continue down the street.

            The metra was closed from  8:30 a.m – 5:00p.m so when it opened again there was a mad rush to  squeeze onto the train. With all the pushing and pulling it seems logical that people might get upset. For the most part though, only awkward smiles were exchanged when the only place to put an elbow was  to be squashed against a back or rib.

Women who had been waiting for protestors to pass, so they could get into Zara's

            After I left there were outbreaks of lighting cop cars on fire  and trashing the streets, but since I was not there to witness it I cannot include a detailed account of these events.