Job Discussion Forums

[been_there]

Well on to the next discussion: anyone been in a riot lately? Had one here in Kosovo.

Last night the local youth got a bit pissed off at.....well....at everything and decided to bust up some UN vehicles. My apartment block is directly accross a parking lot from a block of flats with a lot of UN workers living in them. Lots of UN jeeps in the parking lot.

A hundred teenagers took rocks, sticks and Molotov Cocktails (sorry, c o c ktails, if putting spaces makes it any better. I would like to get into a semiotic argumet about this beeping censorship in the next thread) and burnt up about 10 cars and tried to burn down the apartments. They broke out the windows with stones and then threw the aforementioned beeptails with little accuracy (fortunately) at the windows. They then went INTO the building and set it on fire.

THEN 6 or 7 armoured personell carriers showed up and put out the fire and evacuated the UN workers and their families and set up a perimeter.

Small arms fire all night.

I remember when I was in Kathmandu and the Maoist Youth would issue a bundh and the whole city would shut down for a day. It was actually pleasent. No traffic, the air quality would shoot up. I could take a day and bike around the city. The roving gangs that enforced the strike would ignore me and I had a GREAT time.

Last night was NOT a good time.

So, back at work today. Everyone is in a bit of shock. We are all pretending that nothing happened.

Any one else been in a situation like this?

[dmb]

A few years ago I was sitting in a bar in Istanbul when the running battles in the street started. The one where the Leeds Utd fan was stabbed. I know the turks blame the English and the English blame the Turks, but from where I was sitting it was six of one half a dozen of the other.

[johnslat]

Dear been_there,
Not a riot, but a revolution - Iran, 1979. Quite an experience, and, when/if people ask me what Iran was like back then, well, it gives me the opportunity to respond:

Iran in '79? Actually it was revolting.

(Though, to tell the truth, I loved the place).

Regards,
John

[ntropy]

Threee stories, Been There, all in Yemen.

1) having the head offices of our Western oil company blown up one evening, leaving no glass anywhere, doors disappeared and general mayhem. One dead guard, tragic, but happened at 3:00 am so no one else around. The entire company staff spent the next 3 days confined to home, then we were told it was simply gas cylinders from the grocery store next door exploding. Yeah, right.

2) Getting on a helicopter in Sanaa airport headed to our field location in the desert. Bumped off by someone more senior than little old me and told to wait for the next one. As the chopper clears the mountains ringing the capital, it takes machine gun fire and the perspex is shattered, cutting two passengers badly. One of the them is the man who bumped me off. Investigation finds a badly bloodstained running shoe at the spot in question and an Al-Qaeda operative is arrested at the KSA border shortly after with a serious foot injury.

3) Teaching in a field location (eg oil field/refinery) in the middle of the desert with nothing around. In the middle of the Iraqi war, with tensions high, a local gets laid off and shoots four expats on the rigs, killing two. My students tell me that night, while at the qat chews, sentiment among the locals is far in the majority that shooting the expats was a good thing. Back at work the next morning 6:00 am pretending all is well.

Know what? I really liked it there, miss it, and would go back tomorrow. Perhaps people are right when they say you have to be crazy to be an EFL teacher.

[khmerhit]

I left my flat in Phnom Penh one afternoon to purchase a loaf of bread, only to find all the shopkeepers pulling down the shutters and fleeing the scene with rather anxious expressions on their faces. What's that noise, I asked myself. It turned out to be the prelude to a few weeks of gunbattles.
Nothing special in Cambodia, but it was new to me. At least I got my loaf of bread.
khmerhit

[grahamb]

A riot broke out at a recent anarchists' convention when the chairman called the meeting to order.

[FGT]

Is it my imagination, or is the world hotting up (as regards trouble spots) recently (ie this week)? More British troops going to Kosova, big bombs in Baghdad, Afghanistan in the news again etc.
When are things going to get better, why are they getting worse?

[Shaman]

I've been pretty lucky (knock on wood!) in regard to serious civil unrest. In the Fall, a last-minute cancellation of a punk rock concert caused the local contingent of ticket holders to spin out a bit. Turning over and/or burning cars, smash and grabs from retailers, random vandalism etc. One anonymous punk complained to the media that he had begged and squeegied windshields for a whole two days to raise the money for his ticket.

Shaman

[Marcoregano]

Brixton, summer of 1985. London calling!

[wordgirl]

I was in Bangkok during an attempted coup. Tanks rolled through downtown, and a few people, including a Canadian journalist, were killed. It only lasted a day, though. Afterward, everything went right back to normal. My Thai friends didn't seem to think it was a very big deal.

[khmerhit]

1991, right?

[been_there]

well, good (in a sick sort of way) I'm glad that there are others who have been through BAD unrest (as opposed to pleasent, Nepali unrest); makes me feel not-alone.

At the risk of typing too soon, it seems to have died down here. Nothing much last night, and the UN is back over at the apartments getting their stuff out.

Had a discussion with the Brit. Council lady a while back; she knows the UNers better than I and some of them actually CHASE unrest. They are already planning to go to Iraq. Not my cup of tea, though...

Administering the TOEFL tomorrow.... Jazz jam tonight. met this drummer with a NICE maple Yamaha set up ......

[nik_knack0828]

Well, not to sound like a total w*nker, but I've been to a riot. Not really caused by civil unrest, but more because of drunk concert goers at a cancelled concert.
It was a BIG deal in B.C. (Canada) November 2002. Don't have many riots in B.C.
It all started because Axel Rose failed to show up for his first concert on his reunion tour with Guns 'n Roses. I was there with my best friend Alaina. Two young girls (I was 18, she was 17) from a little town in the country (15,000 people) in the large city of Vancouver. We has 5th row seats, very excited.
The officials waited until after the concert was set to begin before they announced that it had been cancelled. All the people (most drunk) were lined up outside (several thousands). When the cancellation was announced we didn't believe it. We waited and waited until people started smashing the windows, throwing guard rails and really freaking me out. We left as the cops showed up.
That's my only riot story, so far. Pretty lame, but hey, I'm from Canada. I can't expect too much.

[ntropy]

Been There,

Just want to say that I hope all quiets down. It is a very disquieting feeling and full of stress and anxiety. I pray that you and all others (expats and locals) all come through safely. Best Wishes.

[struelle]