Around 6 pm I went over the little bridge beneath my window and through the alley to have a drink at the cafe at the end of the alley, BS with David the Scots bartender, think about where to get some dinner ...
So as we're BS'ing, noise starts to come up the street, and suddenly there are several hundred darkly clothed demonstrators waving pirate flags filling the street and sidewalk. They roll a stage with loudspeakers into the intersection right in front of us and stop, setting up camp.
And I don't have my camera! Dang it.
David tells me it's probably related to a protest by 'squatters' on changes in Netherlands law that will make it harder for them to occupy vacant buildings.
The protesters then send 3 or 4 kids in ski masks to break into the building directly across the street and occupy the vacant apartment there. They bring a bullhorn with them and address the crowd from a 3rd floor window, waving proudly.
By now there are at least a couple thousand protesters and gawkers filling the street for a couple blocks. The cafe got a heads-up on the activity from somebody, because two big security guys have shown up and are watching this all from the doorway ... I'm the 2nd biggest guy in the room and stand behind the biggest guy and watch. A few tourists take shelter inside, worried about where this might be going.
I watch for about 10 minutes and say "You know, time to go before the tear gas starts," because this is all happening 2 blocks from a big downtown police precinct, and helicopters have been hovering over the neighborhood for an hour before I left home, so I know the cops have been keeping an eye on the crowd.
Quick stop at Burger Bar for dinner to go and a wide detour around the crowd (which is between me and home) gets me back home by 8. By now there are a lot of kids milling around on the far side of the bridge from my place, and I can hear plenty of noise coming from one street over where the cafe is.
I'm on the 5th floor ... retreat to high ground!
Sure enough, the cops drive the crowd out of the street one block over, and eventually there is a line of riot cops with shields holding the alley entrance across the street from my building, and they are taking incoming bottles and rocks from protesters.
That lasts for about 10 minutes while the crowd gets a little bigger and tries to get up the nerve to push the cops back up the alley .... which is just when the cops roll through a dozen mounted riot cops that easily disperse the kids in front of the alley.
That quiets things down for a little bit, but a helicopter hovers 100 feet up and illuminates the intersection with a spotlight, the kids tentatively move back in, and the cops send in tear gas, wait for it to disperse, then charge out of the alley and re-take both sides of 'my' bridge. They bring in two big vans and an ambulance and set up an aid station on my side of the bridge .... and, fun was over, the kids found someplace else to go, before a huge squall rolled through town around midnight and hosed down everything.
Looks like some broken windows across the street, a lot of paving stones got broken up to make ammunition ... and there were repair crews out there working before I went to bed!
Just another quiet night in the city.
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