Protest!

On Thursday Oct 8 I attended my first protest, which I was very excited about. My classmates told me about it the day before, and I was reluctant to go - I was afraid of getting arrested, detained, pepper sprayed or beaten by police (think G8/G20, Seattle, Olympics). My classmates and teachers did not understand this concern. "Can't you protest in Canada?" they'd ask. "Well, yes, " I'd reply, "but you might get arrested". I guess here you apply to protest (and there might be a fee involved - not sure), and police are called in to keep protesters on the streets, not damaging stuff, direct traffic, etc. The protest was against cuts to education, and there were students from all over Palermo in attendance. I think there might have been similar protests in other cities in Italy, also. Groups organized by school, and a truck at the front had a large sound system and microphone, where a group played music. The protest started in an area downtown, and went for quite a ways to near the port. All along the way police stood guard and directed traffic around us. It was fantastic to be a part of such a large excited and passionate group of young people

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