My experience at the Puerto Rico National Strike

I've been hearing about this strike for more than a week now, people near my house were preparing for the worst. As if a tropical storm was coming. On the day of the event I decided to not rush things, grab some breakfast and make sure I grab my camera then I head out to photograph this historical event of the island.

Since I live 2 blocks away the event, I decided to walk, there was no way I was going to drive. As I walk down the street, I thought I was going to walk quite a bit to get to where the people were marching but when I turned the corner of the street by my house, there it was at the end of the street. There were hundreds of people walking, marching and chanting towards the main stage, where there were artists singing and celebrities in favor of the peaceful protest.

As I enjoy the gathering of union workers, students, and many other members displaying their banners, I followed a small group that was headed toward the main stage. I see many people holding posters with funny satire, also saw a person dress in a Spider-Man suite, people selling water, ice cream and piragua which is a flavored ice cone, and many with their faces covered with masks on as if it was Halloween.

I go towards the main stage and then I realized I forgot to bring my water bottle. Thirsty and with no money, I had nothing else but to either return back home and grab water and go back out or try to forget that I'm thirsty. Out of the crowd there is this booth that stands out and this gentlemen looks at me and points me with a water bottle. Not sure if he was selling it, I stood back for a minute and someone grabbed the bottle he offered me. Then I realized he was just giving water away to people that were thirsty like me. I grabbed it and snap a picture because those are the real heroes, not because they are giving stuff for free, but because they go out of their way to bring something that was a necessity for a lot of people participating in the National Strike.

As I pass the main stage, there were some police officers, I thought they were forming a barrier but no, they were surrounded by people. Many were there to give them water, talking to them and thanking them for their great courage of standing in the middle of the protest. There were member of the local university in support of what they were doing. Those cops had to go to work on such event were they are not very appreciated but I felt as if that group there was also protesting with the rest. they showed no signs of aggression, people were able to get to personal space with them and they didn't even bothered to push them. People from the event were the ones reminding everyone to give space to the officers. On the picture below we see an officer talking to someone who showed support of what they were doing at the National Strike.

I walked pass the cops in the middle of the street and the humongous crowd around it, I go towards a glass building to see if i could find a place to rest. To my surprise i find an old friend who is also a photographer. She came from Centro Medico (Medical Center) with a group of staff members from the hospital to protest. She told me of how they walked from Centro Medico to the event and how they stopped the traffic on the highway in protest. The images below were taken by my friend, when she was on her way to the main even.

After catching on old news and talk about photography, we parted in separate ways to continue on the event. I found another friend from a photography event I attended not long ago, who is also the director of Prisma Art Project on the event. It was nice to see people I recognize in the National Strike.

After seeing my friends, the cops decided to move out of the crowd. I took a couple of minutes for people to open a path for the officers get out. People from the protest started celebrating their departure and burned an American Flag and sang the National Hymn.

From this point on, no positive things were done from my experience. Some masked protesters started breaking glass and causing mayhem and all of the sudden I'm in the middle of an event I didn't wanted to be part of.

Lets just say that the peaceful protest went fine until the end. People were able to be united to fight for the rights of the town and fight for the injustice the government is laying over the island of Puerto Rico.

I posted a gallery of everything that happened on the event, I hope you guys enjoy it. Click here to see the gallery.

#strike #puertorico #pr #riot #peace