14-N Huelga General + A visit from the King!

Posters had plastered the walls all over for Cádiz for weeks beforehand, but eventually 14th November had arrived. As greatful as I was for the day off University I was starting to get a little put off by all of these days off we were having, it seems like there has barely been a week where there hasn't been some form of strike, or special day off. I personally would prefer longer time off for holidays rather than the odd disruptive day here and there. 14N promised to be very disruptive, I had no desire to partake in any of the protests, having been caught out in Malaga in March by another Huelga General I did not plan to repeat my mistake. Claire's landlady had told us that she did not intend to leave the house at all that day unless she absolutely had to, so we decided to follow suit. The tension in the air wasn't at all pleasant, although it may have all been in my head. When we left the cinema just before midnight on Tuesday the streets were crawling with police, in squadcars, vans or on foot just patrolling about the streets. That wasn't exactly reassuring that all was going to be well, there were also signs of graffiti everywhere - lovely, as if vandalising your own homes is really going to help.

Hannah had caught a late night train to Seville on Tuesday, even though her flight home wasn't until late Wednesday night, because there would only be one bus and one train running to Seville that day, if they ran at all. So she went to Seville early and booked into a hostel - better safe than sorry! I woke up on the morning of 14N to find it was all over my twitter feed, including several pictures of large protests in Cadiz. On the news there were reports of deaths across the country as the protests had turned violent and the police had become involved. My dad sent me a message to warn me to steer clear of the Police, they were just as likely to hurt me as the protesters were. I didn't really need warning though, after Malaga where fireworks were thrown and half of the group of people I was with were locked in a bar for their safety, I didn't really fancy going anywhere near these protests. I hope that Spain sorts its issues out, but personally don't think that this is the way, all it does is cause disruption and generate negative press for Spain, and surely all of these days off can't help a struggling economy. 

Instead the girls came round to my flat and we spent a day watching some films, catching up on Hollyoaks and playing on ElfYourself, very productive. Luckily the protests didn't come anywhere near us so far as we saw, apart from rubbish strewn across many of the roads. Anissa unfortunately had to walk through the protests to get to my flat, but said that at the time they were none violent so she just hurried through. For us it was a fairly uneventful day, although I'm sure that Cádiz enjoyed its huelga.

Over the following days the Police presence in Cádiz didn't  lighten, apparently we were due a visit from the King of Spain and Latin American Diplomats, or something like that, I didn't really know. So University was cancelled on Friday afternoon and most of the roads were empty as they had been cordened off by police. When I stepped out of my flat I was confronted with 7 police vans in my square. It wasn't exactly making me feel very safe, the happy little town of Cádiz was starting to feel like it was under martial law and police control! Not fun! There were police helicopters everywhere and either ralleys or protests, I'm not sure but they were noisy. 

Protesting and Ralleys seem to be somewhat popular here, although unfortunately for me there are often many in Plaza de Mina, right outside my window, which means that sitting in my lounge is rarely the peaceful affair that I would like. 

Moan over.

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