This was an incredible, breath-taking evening. The Passeig de Gràcia is one of the biggest streets in Barcelona, it was mobbed, there was no space to move anywhere. Between seven and eight o'clock, there were very few voices to be heard among the one and a half million people on the street. The protest took two different forms. The first was a clap, either in a rythm of three after three after three repeated or just randomly. This clap started at the front of the group, hundreds of metres away from me. It came up like a wave washing over the heads of everyone in front of us, rolling up and giving us a chance to hop on and ride it. "Here it comes again..." and as it arrived and passed over us going way way back we joined in, clapping and making a noise that symbolised the unity and resolution perfectly.
The other form of protest was with both palms raised and forward. Vulnerable, but neither scared nor defeated. It was a symbol that we have clean hands, we will never dirty our hands by involving ourselves in acts of terror, taking innocent lives.
Our government would not have been able to take part in this protest.
After eight o'clock came the noise. The shouting and chanting and sitting down in the middle of the street urging people, pleading with them to oust the government on Sunday. Various political leaders who attended the protest were taunted, called murderers and forced to leave by the people, who are still totally confused and indescribably sad. It stayed this way for hours.
Here are some more links with some photos on them -
albertobastos
Manifestación 11-M
Especial 11-M
...And the unquestionable Steve Bell
*Photos used with the courtesy (but not permission) of El Pais*
(I don't really know what the deal is with putting photos from newspapers on to blogs. Can I get in trouble? Tell me and I'll take them off if I can.)
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