For once, I was in the right place to see the Peace Rally held yesterday. Initially, my defence system went into alert mode but the peace banners (in the local language Tetum) alleviated that somewhat. AFP have reported on this but I am just adding my bit because I was there.
Basically, the rally appeared to concentrate on doing laps of the Palacio do Governo. Participants were 99.9% male and aged between 15 and 25 and a fair bit of adrenalin was flowing. It was not a calm sedate love-in, but more of a rock concert feel. It was boisterous but I saw no trouble.
Many of the participants were loaded onto and hanging off vehicles in a rather risky fashion. I saw one utility vehicle loaded with about 20 rallyers, lose a few as he decided to slam his foot on the accelerator. About 4 of them fell off onto the road at a speed that would have had me spending the rest of the day in sick bay. The driver was not booked for speeding or overloading.
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