Today was a fasting day (although I did allow myself an evening spicy tomato juice).
World cup fever continues in Paris (and probably throughout France). Another million people (the sames one I guess) went to the Champs-Elysées today to welcome the players back to Paris and wave to them as they were bused to the Elysée Palace for a reception with our (decidedly) lucky President. I have talked about some of the positives of this event, but there is one aspect which for me jars quite significantly. During the past 2 days (3 if you count the 14th of July) the whole area has felt as if it was under military occupation. Somehow, having barricaded streets manned by heavily armed police does not make me feel more secure, it makes me feel less so. I understand that when you have 1 million people getting together for a party you need to plan for things going wrong and some people possibly hurting themselves in their over excitement. So having paramedics on hand might be a good thing. But there is no benefit to having visible armed police. I grew up in England where the concept of police carrying firearms did not exist for a long time and is still limited to special units rather than to street officers. I do believe that violence (especially state violence) begets violence (to a certain extent). If our police "protection" were unarmed and dressed in red, white and blue track suits rather then ominous black armour, I'm sure the whole experience would be happier and smoother.
World cup fever continues in Paris (and probably throughout France). Another million people (the sames one I guess) went to the Champs-Elysées today to welcome the players back to Paris and wave to them as they were bused to the Elysée Palace for a reception with our (decidedly) lucky President. I have talked about some of the positives of this event, but there is one aspect which for me jars quite significantly. During the past 2 days (3 if you count the 14th of July) the whole area has felt as if it was under military occupation. Somehow, having barricaded streets manned by heavily armed police does not make me feel more secure, it makes me feel less so. I understand that when you have 1 million people getting together for a party you need to plan for things going wrong and some people possibly hurting themselves in their over excitement. So having paramedics on hand might be a good thing. But there is no benefit to having visible armed police. I grew up in England where the concept of police carrying firearms did not exist for a long time and is still limited to special units rather than to street officers. I do believe that violence (especially state violence) begets violence (to a certain extent). If our police "protection" were unarmed and dressed in red, white and blue track suits rather then ominous black armour, I'm sure the whole experience would be happier and smoother.
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