Protests or riots: from Hong Kong to Santiago

Hi guys, as you know, I do travel quite a lot and a friend has recently pointed out to me that some of the cities that I have visited in the last 18 months have descended into chaos, that I was lucky to have visited whilst things were calm. The two most prominent ones are Hong Kong and Santiago - I was in Hong Kong in May last year and had a brilliant time there; well, I'm sure you've seen plenty in the news about the current situation in Hong Kong. I was in Santiago just this August, just two months before massive protests paralyzed the city and spread across the entire country. The protests are still ongoing after nearly two months and 20 people have been killed in Chile so far. Then there's Buenos Aires as well, things weren't as bad there but I did actually see protests in Argentina (though the ones I encountered were peaceful in nature). Furthermore, I was in Tbilisi - the capital of Georgia in January this year and it was very peaceful when I was there. Then protests started in Tbilisi this in June and the unrest is still continuing as I am writing this article in December. And then there is Barcelona which I visited last June, protests do erupt there every now and then (as recently as mid-November) whenever the Madrid government try to impose their rule after the region of Catalonia bid to break away from Spain had been brutally suppressed. Then if we go back even further, I was in Sydney in September 2017 and now the city is being choked by the smoke from wild fires that have encircled Sydney. Woah, I could go on but I have been quite lucky so far.

So my friend asked me, "what would you do if you were in a city and things turned sour? Like you turn up in a country and then a coup breaks out, there are protests in the streets? Or if you're about to go on holiday and you see something happening in that country, would you cancel your trip? Have you ever canceled a trip before on that basis?" Well to begin with, when I was in Buenos Aires in August this year, there were anti-government protests in the streets of Buenos Aires because the local residents were extremely fed up with president Macri's policies - the Argentinian currency lost a lot of value against the US dollar whilst I was there and along with rampant inflation, that all combined to made life even harder for the locals but the situation only worsened as I left Argentina and reached Chile. I was watching the protests on the streets of Buenos Aires from my AirBNB apartment in Chile, seeing protesters occupy the main boulevard Avenue 9 de Julio in central Buenos Aires where just days before, I was taking selfies and singing show tunes from the musical Evita. I had left Argentina just before the more serious protests took place but still, that's nothing like that protests that would paralyze Santiago just two months later and by then I was already back in Europe. But allow me to talk about the protest that I did actually take part in when I was in Argentina in the small town on Esquel in Patagonia. My mother would freak out if she knew I took part because she would be worried I would end up in an Argentinean jail, but let me share the story.

There's very little to do in Esquel after dark in the winter months. When I tried to get a take-away for my dinner, the cook at the restaurant told me to come back in 30 to 40 minutes as the kitchen staff were not ready. So my partner and I took a long walk around the neighbourhood and we stumbled upon what we thought was some kind of festival - there were huge crowds of people on the streets by a government building, there were children playing, we even heard music. I thought, great let's go see this street festival whilst we're waiting. It turned out to be quite a massive protest: there were hundreds of people protesting outside the local town hall building with placards and chanting slogans - the protest was started by locals who opposed the mining companies prospecting for more minerals in the local mountains. They were afraid that the huge mining companies would just turn up, destroy the pristine countryside, generate very few jobs locally then leave a nasty mess once they had taken everything of value they wanted. I saw the slogan "no a la mina" (no to the mines) being painted everywhere in the region. But what started as a local grassroots movement grew in strength and it attracted a strong following because it became a beacon for anyone who was angry with the Argentinean government. The atmosphere was peaceful, even festive - there were street vendors selling empanadas and drinks to the protesters. Yes there was a police presence but they were very low-key and relaxed. It was a far cry from the more violent protests we had seen in places like Santiago and Hong Kong recently - it felt more like a local music festival than an angry mob rampaging through the streets. Certainly, this protest was one of the more interesting experiences I had on that long trip.

Since I do speak Spanish, I chatted to some of the locals at the protest who were pretty surprised to see an Asian tourist show up at their protest. We were in a pretty remote area in rural Argentina, whilst the nearby ski resort of La Hoya does bring some tourists in, they tend to be either from other parts of Argentina or South America. The locals were extremely pleased to be able to communicate with me in Spanish because I was able to listen to them - they wanted the outside world to know about their problems, struggles and frustrations. It was not like I had the power to solve any of their problems, but through the power of social media, I could highlight their situation to the world and perhaps in a small way, raise awareness of their plight. Quite frankly, I'm not sure what I can achieve even by blogging about it here but I think the protesters were genuinely very friendly people who were more than happy to talk to me because I was there, not because they wanted anything from me or was there expectation on their part that talking to me would somehow change anything. This is similar to the kind of response I got when I spoke to my friend Emmanuel in Hong Kong - part of the reason why I had such a brilliant time in Hong Kong was because I stayed with my buddy Emmanuel and his family there. Of course, when we saw the news of the protests, I did what all his friends did - I checked in on him to see if he was alright and of course he was. He pointed out that the protesters were angry with the government and the police, not ordinary folks like him and with a bit of common sense, he was able to avoid the riots even though he did work in the Tsim Sha Tsui area. It was an inconvenience to everyday life but he never felt like he was in any kind of danger even during the worst of the protests there - normal life for most of the locals just goes on regardless of the political situation.

I did run into some protests when I was in Tunis in Tunisa back in 2014 but two things happened: firstly, a policeman came to me and told me that I really should leave the area quickly. Then secondly, someone (a civilian) else came to me and said the same thing, he even told me where I would be much safer - they were both concerned about my safety and didn't want me to get into trouble in case the protest turned violent. There is a genuine sense of goodwill on the part of the locals that didn't want to see any of the tourists like me get caught up in the violence, so if you do see a protest then the sensible thing is to keep a safe distance rather than walk towards it to take pictures or videos. That is one thing that could potentially get you into trouble so please, don't do that, it is not a tourist attraction. A funny story from London about how taking a video got a man into trouble was during an XR (Extinction Rebellion) protest in London this October - the XR protesters had climbed on top of a train to protest, bringing the network to a halt at the peak of rush hour. The furious commuters were having none of it and they dragged the protesters off the train before beating them up. A man was actually simply taking a video of the extraordinary event when he got mistaken as one of the protesters and he got beaten up too by the angry mob. That goes to show how things can easily get out of hand in a very volatile situation when emotions run high. In some cultures, people are a lot more nervous about being photographed and/or filmed; the best thing to do is to err on the side of caution and not take any photos unless you're really doing it from a safe distance.

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So I am not that worried about encountering such situations when I travel because I do live in London where we get all kinds of crazy shit all the time. There has been yet another terrorist attack recently but it has gotten to the point where I read the news and feel relieved that it wasn't that serious compared to some of the others. We've even had some riots in London in the past when protests have gotten out of hand and whilst they make sensational headlines, most of us simply kept away from where the trouble was brewing. This is when I default to statistics: in a big city like London, the chances of you being hurt or killed in a protest or terrorist incident is so incredibly low that you're more likely to be hurt or killed in a traffic accident. Hence the vital thing though is to differentiate between a violent political protest and a full blown riot - the difference lies in the motivations of a protester vs that of a rioter. A protester has a very clear political agenda, he usually has a bone to pick with the government or some other figure of authority rather than any random stranger he may come across in the street. A rioter on the other hand is simply seeking anarchy and looking for opportunities to seek mischief or gain, such as by joining in a looting spree. Indeed, some protests can turn into riots at times and that's when it genuinely becomes a lot more dangerous - the key thing is to be able to discern the difference between the two. The London Riots of 2011 did start out as a protest against the murder of a suspected drug dealer shot dead when the police approached his car, but it soon turned into an all out riot when many who joined the riot weren't interested at all in the cause of the protest - they realized that they could get away with looting the moment the rioters outnumbered the police.

Protesters who have a clear political agenda would never want to let their protests turn into a riot - that would destroy any legitimacy for their cause and allow the police to simply arrest them all as trouble makers. However, small protests are easy to control by the organizers if they have a clear idea about whom is in charge, who is coming and what they are going to do - but when protests swell as many people join in spontaneously as they see what is going on, that's when things could get out of hand. So if you take somewhere like Hong Kong for example, yes the protests are absolutely massive and some fringe elements are clearly troublemakers with no political agenda, such as when a big Christmas tree in a mall was set on fire in November.  But given the scale of the protests, it has generally been quite targeted when you compare it to the situation in Santiago - there have been far more reports of looting in Santiago because the riots there began as a protest against the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, with the Chilean government doing very little to lift the poorest Chileans out of poverty and only serving their rich supporter. Hence with such a sense of injustice bringing the people out into the streets to protest, certain businesses have been targeted during the protests and this has led to looting - once there is looting, the protest has evolved into a riot and that's when it is a lot more dangerous because the motivation of the rioters are quite different from that of a political protester. This is a fine balance because most protests are relatively safe and peaceful but the moment they morph into a riot, things can turn ugly very quickly.

I am going to show my age by using a 1980s analogy - if you haven't watched the classic 1980s movie Gremlins, allow me to explain what happens in the movie. There is this cute little creature called the Mogwai but there are three rules you need to observe when you care for Mogwais - break those rules and they will turn into Gremlins who are quite ferocious and nasty. So the Mogwai owner in the movie carelessly breaks the rules and thus the town is overrun with Gremlins with devastating consequences. (See the trailer below if you're not familiar with the movie.) Thus by that token, protests are fairly harmless, even fun - I have taken part in so many over the years and it is a vital part of our democracy for people to be able to protest in the streets to voice their displeasure with the government. I have protested for greater gay rights in the UK, I protested against the war in Iraq, I protested when the pope and Donald Trump visited London, I have joined Extinction Rebellion protests for a cleaner, greener London, I have protested for greater protection for cyclists. Am I a trouble maker? Hell no, I am a law abiding citizen who also enjoys exercising my democratic right to voice an opinion this way through peaceful protes. But would I ever become a rioter? Hell no, of course I know the difference - but having participated in protests before, I can see how easy it is for emotions to run high if I witness police brutality for example and for things to turn ugly very quickly. Thus like those who care for Mogwais, those who organize protests have a huge responsibility to make sure that the protests are carried out peacefully and are not hijacked by those looking for trouble.

So let's compare this to the situation in Singapore - we're talking about a country where a gathering of five or more people in a public space can be considered an 'illegal assembly'. That's why I used to joke that my family regularly broke the law whenever we went out as a family as there were five of us in my family. Demonstrations are extremely rare in Singapore and in recent years, at least there is the Speakers' Corner in Hong Lim Park which is a step in the right direction but ultimately the government still gets to decide whether or not to grant your public assembly a permit. People like my parents would freak out the moment they saw a protest in the streets and this is because they have bad memories of the deadly riots in Singapore from the 1950s and the 1960s which were mostly race related. The draconian measures that the Singapore government has taken since has prevent any riots from happening since 1969 with the sole exception of the 2013 Little India riots. The problem though is that many people don't know the difference between a protest and a riot - the protests that I have attended here in the UK are peaceful and well-organized. You have to apply to get a permit, the police will often provide escorts and security to make sure that everything is peaceful and on schedule - in most cases, we have a really good relationship with the police who are deployed to support the event. I can understand why older Singaporeans never want to experience another riot ever again of course, but peaceful protests are another matter altogether and I see the right to protest as a vital part of living in a democratic society. That's why I don't panic when I do see a protest, I will panic if I am confronted with a riot and unlike my parents, I know the difference.

So that's it from me on this issue, what do you think? What would you do if you saw a protest or a riot when abroad on holiday? Would you be worried about traveling to a city like Hong Kong or Santiago now given the situation there? Or perhaps you have been to somewhere like Hong Kong rather recently and would like to share your experiences with us here? Have you ever participated in a political protest before? Do leave a comment below and many thanks for reading.