It’s amazing what a little fist-fight can do.
Supposedly all of that stuff yesterday with the riot police and the army and everything happened because two guys got into an argument on the street. I got this story from Wang Kun this morning.
There’s an out-of-work guy who says something to a guy and his wife walking down the street. Words are exchanged. Things get physical. The out-of-work guy hits the woman. The guy grabs a bangbang stick and starts hitting him. I think. It could have been the other way around. In any case they’re having this fight and the guy says something to the effect of “What are you doing? I work for the government and I could break you like a twig!” To the effect of.
People heard that and got angry about this corrupt official beating up a guy and threatening him with government problems. People got angry in crowds. The police and army are called in to make sure nothing happens. And because the guy said he was a big government official they go to the city square to protect the municipal government building. I still don’t know what those flashbangs were last night around 11. It could have just been dispersal type stuff.
The soldiers are still there today. Maybe 150 of them sit in the square with their riot shields, while others form a perimeter. Then they trade off. The crowds watching them aren’t as big as yesterday, and I didn’t try getting any pictures.
The thing that bugs me about this story is that just down the street from the square is a bank that has had an obvious fire. It seems like that should have something to do with all of this but maybe it doesn’t. Maybe. I’ll ask some students what they’ve heard tonight. They’re always good for rumour an innuendo.
It’s funny how the paranoia gets to you after being screamed at by army guys who don’t have to respect any pesky civil rights. I took a picture of a construction site this afternoon and a guy came up and wagged his finger at me so I stopped. He was just some guy walking down the street who had no authority at all and I flinched hard.
