September 11, 2008

Argentine Commuters Torch Trains

Here is Stacey's response to my question of whether she ever feels unsafe. The timing was great in light of the recent riot in Castelar:

Do I ever feel unsafe? Actually yes, but never to the point that Ím really scared. I know the Lord will protect us and warn us if we need to get out of where we are. As a matter of fact He did this week. Íll explain in a sec, but as far as when I feel unsafe... it's when we run into or pass by men who are drinking, but dońt worry, we are really careful and walk with a purpose... meaning we try not to look like targets.
As far as the adventure and us being "warned" this week, you should see if you can find some info in English on the internet about the riot that took place in my area! Riot in Castellano is alboroto and what happened was that there was a problem with the train either in Merlo or somewhere, but by the time it arrived to Castelar (where we board), the people were so angry because they were all 2 hours late for work, and they started throwing rocks at the train and broke all the windows and then they set it on fire! That will surely accomplish something... now we have one fewer train to take! Anyway, what happened was, I was waiting ever so patiently for Hermana Munos (we were on divisions and I stayed in Castelar with another companion) and she had to gather her stuff and it was taking a long time. I was worried because we were supposed to have walked out the door about 7 minutes earlier, but it turned out to be a miracle because at 10:40 ish we got an urgent call from our Zone Leaders exclaiming, "dońt leave the pension!" We thought they were joking, but then Elder Lopez told us that there was a riot at the train station about 8 or 10 blocks from where we live. The funny thing is if we had left when we were supposed to - we wouldńt have known NOT to go to the train station as planned to switch back to our regular companionships in Haedo and we would have been caught up in it. The Lord protected us and we did get the call, rearranged the division and walked to Moron where we reunited with our companions. If you can find anything about the riot, I would actually be interested to know, because we just got bits and pieces of details... I think some teenagers cut the wires of the train or set a pretend bomb off or something... Íd probably know more if I spoke the language, but all I know is that something went wrong and they burned the train.




BBC News - Commuters in Argentina have set fire to two trains amid anger over delays.
Passengers torched the trains at stations outside Buenos Aires, saying the delay was costing them a day's pay. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up the protests, which the government said had been planned by militant members of the Workers Party.
The party rejected this, saying officials were trying to minimise legitimate protests over problems with public transport. The trouble erupted after a train broke down on the line.
Angry commuters at the station of Merlo, in the western outskirts of the capital, set fire to several train carriages. At another station, Castelar, a crowd set fire to another train, damaging a carriage. Protesters also threw stones at the ticket office and blocked the lines.
Justice Minister Anibal Fernandez said the faulty train had been sabotaged and left-wing activists had started the violence. "This was planned, it was premeditated," Mr Fernandez said.
About a dozen people were arrested. Argentina's railway network suffers frequent delays and commuters' anger has led to violence before.


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