Anti-Chavez protester

[vincent_vega_lives]

From another board. I thought it was approprate.

You know, it’s kind of weird. Today I took the subway to the zone where the protesters were, and everything looked like an average day, people were wearing suits with ties, news papers and all the work gizmos. I got of the train, walked some stairs up, and there it was, a mofin' war zone.
Soldiers, police, APCs (called Whales -"Ballenas"-) and gas, smoke, fire, debris and garbage on the streets, and hundreds of detonations by the minute (12g, M-79s grenade launchers and some kind of rifle I couldn't identify).

As I arrived the Guards and Policemen let us approach them, on a tight street flanked with tall buildings, to the point we were less than one foot away from the Whale, we were about 500 people. The Guards (which are soldiers) were calmed behind the policemen, chatting amongst themselves with smiles on their faces, holding their AK-103s and FALs crowd control equipment in a none aggressive fashion. The Policemen OTOH were scared sh*tless, hidden behind their shields and the APC. I'm not sure how it began, but somehow hundreds of objects -from glass bottles to rocks pulled out of the pavement- were in the air, heading for the Government folk.

The sh*t found the fan.

I heard a detonation, which made me froze, for a second. Some of the more aggressive protesters ran forward, some of them shirtless with bandanas with vinegar (to counter the tear gas) and toothpaste bellow their lower eyelids. The Metros (policemen) opened fire crazily, I think there were about a hundred bangs in less than two seconds. I ran for it, twenty meters or so, and turned around and luckily the tear gas was not yet in the air. A friend which was with me, ran a few yards forward, and threw a rock. As it was on the air, the tears began to pour. Firstly my eyes began to itch, then I began to feel pain, and after that, I choked.

There was nothing I or anyone else could do, unless you have a gas mask you are combat ineffective. The metros charged the center of the formation in their motorcycles, one driver, and one passenger armed with a shotgun. I didn't realize, but the people that were with me told me that I laughed, like a maniac as we retreated about a hundred meters. The entire way we were choking by the teargas, and were blind.

Then, the Whale rolled, turned left and charged in. After the teargas ceased to affect us, we stopped and turned around. We saw our opportunity. The plaza where we were had trees and the f*cking thing couldn't get through. We charged, (oh, the idiocy) about twenty people, and only got as near as about 20m from the SOBs. Rubber bullets began to whizz all around us, and one of the metros lobbed a canister at us, I closed my eyes (because I had to) and about faced, and walked (not ran) back, I simply could not see where I was going.

They pushed us back about 200m were, thankfully, we got to a shopping mall where several new paths opened up. Somebody yielded to the right. My heart froze. The metros were flanking us, in their motorcycles on a street that was next to us. I looked up (thing that you learn in riots, is to always look up because the canisters are always thrown in an arch to confuse the protesters) and saw three canisters, white smoke trailing them. They landed two meters in front of me. I don't know what got into me, but I ran towards them and kicked the closest one to me.

I never felt so awful in my entire life. The gas entered my lungs like it never had done before; I chocked and threw myself to the ground, unable to do anything else. Someone, I don't know who it was, grabbed me and dragged me out of the gas. I think I owe, whoever it was, my life.

I was about fifteen meters back when I heard "Hermano!" turned to face the voice, and my two little brothers where walking to me, I had no idea they were there. They joined me and we got into the shopping center, where about a 100 people were. We began to insult the Metros and they fired again. I don't know if they were real bullets, but before the gas kicked in, we dodged. We got of the opposite side of the center, free at last.

We decided to call it a night, and before the 6 mile walk back home, we left the zone where detonations continued until we where too far to hear. On the way back home we met about a dozen more protests, some of which consisted in bonfires made out of garbage.

We met about a dozen caravans of National Guard and Metros but they left us alone, they seemed to be as tired as we were.

An hour later I'm back at my parent's, back in normalcy. It is weird to see all that violence and then TV, weird.

more to come

[vincent_vega_lives]

1. Part II

Thanks to all.

Jim, my hat is off too, for the real brave people who go bare chest against big brother with any regards for their life. I know rubber bullets can be lethal. But so can be gas, and more importantly, idiocy. Thank God I'm not an idiot.

Today the crowd marched three miles, and three miles back. We went near the Metros, I even touched the Ballena, and nothing happened. Even some of the Polimaricos (poliqueers) were sympathetic with us, and were otherwise friendly. We got back to the rally point, the crowd numbered in the thousands, and a heavy rain dropped (I got completely damped in less than a minute). It was all calmed, unless but the screaming of chants, and dancing in the rain, I liked it; there was a lot of tail with white tee-shirts. Then, a truck arrived, with some of the artist and reporters of RCTV. They said some really inspiring things, which I thought was bullshit. They talked like hippies, calling for a peace movement and actions that really had no sense in reality, there is no way that Chavez is going to be toppled with love.

They talked some more, until one particular guy took the mike. He said, at 1600, that we had to go, because, and I'm quoting, "we didn't have permission". I don’t care if we don't get permission from a politician to protest, otherwise it would not be a protest. I told the guy, and he heard me, to f*ck off. That’s when I decided that there was no point of protesting with pussies. I turned around, and made my way back. As I reached the end of the protest, the same place where the battle took place yesterday, and then, I saw some real courage from some people. A group of about two hundred people were getting ready to take on the police. They took their shirts off, poured vinegar on them, and ran down towards the metros. Personally I didn't see why, the cops were minding their own business, about a kilometer down the road.

I trailed them.

The police were swift. They fired as soon as they saw the crowd walking to them. I stopped, but didn't retreat. Some of the people began to run even faster. The police were on an overpass which had a bridge between to tightly placed hills. They lost no time to fire gas. This is the first time I've seen such type of firing. They placed the canisters on the muzzles of their shotguns, and used a bullet trap to propel the round a few hundred meters back. I didn't know you can do that with a shotgun. The gas landed right on the middle of the crowd, immediately dispersing us. I can't properly explain how gas works, but it’s awful. There is no countering it effectively.

We had no chance, at least me. I trekked back up the slope, and then, just before the gas hits me. I don't know how some of the people did it, I guessed they escaped the gas by running to the police, and got close enough for the rubber bullet. That didn't seemed to stop some of them, which kept running towards the police to the point they were close enough for the rock. They bathed the policemen with those "weapons" (according to the Government channel). They kept running and bypassed under the bridge, and the police got surrounded. They smartly retreated down the highway, to rally.

What followed was the most aggressive gassing I have ever seen. They must have fired around thirty canisters. Everyone made a run for it; I must have got back like half a mile back. Most of the people fell back too, so I went with the group. I stayed about an hour, hearing a hundred detonations by the minute. I left the zone because I was sick of the idiocy of some of the leaders there. I plan to go back in the evening.

One thing I was happy to see was government supporters, even from the Military College (UNEFA) for the freedom of speech.

[shenmue]

7. Tear gas...

What a great president he is. :sarcasm:

[vincent_vega_lives]

2. Video

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=venezuelay

Though the protest started peacefully, some people were infiltrated and rallied small groups to go look for a good old fashion brawl. They are a small faction of idiots, which are just eager to see how getting gassed and having your ass royally kicked. The innocence of some people...

Today I had an interesting encounter with some actual Chavistas, not Guards, but actual ignorant socialist weasels in their motorcycles, armed from .38s to FALs. They rode in their bikes and stopped cold about two hundred mikes from us. If it wasn't for the quick action of the police, people would have died. The men in blue ran between the crowd and the assholes, and avoided what could have possibly have been a friggin' battle.

As there was no gas, I was seriously considering going after them. I don't know what gets into you in those situations, but you loose your inhibitions, cowboy up, and you really, really want to kick some ass. Thank God it didn't escalade. The assholes ran away with their tail between their legs.

[vincent_vega_lives]

4. Did I mention he is a teenager

full of piss and vinegar?

[Gabi Hayes]

5. did you mention that Otto Reich wrote all that BS?

don't buy the hype. it happened before, it's happening again

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/South_America/US_Coup_Venezuela.html

[deadmessengers]

3. Great account, thanks for posting n/t

[killbotfactory]

6. Wow.

Thankfully we never have violent protests in the US other free democracies.

[rinsd]

10. Except we usually recoil at the police brutality, you excuse it (nt)

[Bake]

8. Chavez. Another sacred cow at DU.

DU will brook no criticism of Chavez. Tear gassing protesters? Sounds like Nixon to me, or yet another third-world tin-horn dictator. No thanks.

Bake

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

9. The corporacrats are doing a damn fine job of attacking Chavez,...

,...meanwhile, in corporate America,...the corporacrats are doing a damn fine job of exploiting Americans.

Not that you care.

[vincent_vega_lives]

11. Oh please

Chavez IS the corporation.

[malaise]

12. Meanwhile the US college kids won't protest anything

in large numbers because they expect the same tear gas and rubber bullets.