Vaga General!

September 29th there was a nationwide protest in Spain, and obviously Barcelona participated in a huge way. All over the city, all day people were throwing things into the street, making sure all shops were closed, (the labor unions and groups asked all businesses to close for the entire day, including restaurants, metros, everything.), and taking in megaphones, etc. People spray painted huge messages on banks and literally filled the streets and plazas. This picture was taken around 7pm, right in front of my apartment. From this point on, the protest became more and more intense until it was undoubtedly a riot instead of a peaceful protest. yes, i did go outside to take this photo, but we were back inside before the real action started. From our amazing apt view, we saw thousands of people, some throwing rocks at armored police vans, (which were everywhere and literally charged at people), some starting small fires with trash, breaking glass of a storefront across the street, and running around and general yelling. it. was. crazy. I don't think I'll ever see anything like this maybe ever again in my life, so, it was definitely an experience. These weren't just "hellions" or whatever that were protesting. There were whole families..and the entire city seemed to be participating. Im not quite sure of all of the causes they were fighting for, but I do know that one was about reducing the retirement age, and another was to create more free public services.