Motín
On Wednesday June 30th various student groups and activists set out to peacefully “take back the Capitol Building” after the President of the Senate Thomas Rivera Schatz closed the galleries to the public and press. I decided to use the demonstration to test my new Zoom H4n audio recorder and wet my feet before I jumped into a few multimedia projects. Little did I know what a peaceful student protest would turn into…
Click the Jump for more images and text.
I arrived at the Capitol Building at 3:30pm when the demonstration was scheduled to start. I stayed just inside the doors of the Capitol Building, photographing people trying to gain access to the public galleries. The first was an elderly man who showed his driver’s license demanding his right as a citizen to go in. He was denied access and escorted out.
More people tried to enter as citizens while members of student groups started to push their way pass the metal detectors. That’s when the first wave of pepper spray was fired against the crowd trying to force their way in.
Immediately riot squad officers started to pour in from behind the security area to push protesters out of the vestibule onto the steps of the Capitol Building. The situation continued to escalate, ending in a violent conflict between police officers trying to disperse crowds and the demonstrators.
The TV footage and stills of aggressions against students have been looped constantly for the past couple of weeks in the local media but nobody, including me, is really sure of what happened first, who cast the first stone. Here is the progression of images I shot:
As protesters tried to “sit in” on the steps the second wave of pepper spray was fired. Here a protester is washed with a mixture of dish soap, oil and water after being sprayed on the Capitol Building steps.
Student Alberto Rodríguez Rivera’s head bleeds after being hit by an officer as he tried to hand a “People’s Proclamation” to the Senate. After seeking medical attention he reads the proclamation demanding access to “the people’s house of laws.”
Police officers shoot canisters of tear gas at the crowd of students, parents and elderly citizens. The Police Superintendent, José Figueroa Sancha, said he issued the order after various police officers where hit by rocks thrown by students.
A student doubles over after being hit by a police officer. She has been taunting him and mockingly asked if he wasn’t going to hit her because she was a woman.
Students and demonstrators reorganize on the south side of the Capitol Building paralyzing the main road exiting the San Juan’s downtown.
Some students remained well into the night, despite pouring rain. They feared further aggression from police squads.
A police squad blocked the streets around the Capitol Building dispersing any remaining demonstrators.
It is important to know what the political climate on the island has been like this past year to even begin to understand why this happened. At the beginning of last summer the Governor, Luis Fortuño, ordered massive layoffs of upward of 20,000 government employees, as part of a plan to alleviate the island’s abysmal deficit. But according to union leaders, the government administrators in charge of choosing who got the cut fired based people based on their political inclinations, rather than their work.
In March of this year, the students of the University of Puerto Rico went on strike, after the administration announced massive budget cuts, tuition increases, and the inclusion of a yearly $1,000 quota that the students claim is well above the economic means of the majority of the student body. They forcefully closed the gates of 10 of the 11 campuses and occupied them for 62 days, the longest strike in the history of the university. The student strike was marked by instances of violence and intimidation by police.
In one instance, an officer struck the father of a protestor trying to bring food to his son. The man required medical attention and the possibility of more injuries at the hands of the officers was a very real concern.
Finally, in June, the courts intervened calling for a judge to mediate negotiations between student negotiators and the University’s Board of Directors. The administrators finally conceded to all of the student’s demands ending the strike but since have also used every questionably legal loophole to adjust their promises to serve their own purposes.
One of the most worrying aspects of the June 30 Capitol Building riot is the over-the-top use of aggression and lack of control on behalf of the police officers and Riot Control. While I shot this I was constantly seeking cover from the falling tear gas canisters, the gas itself, and the possibility of getting hit by an officer. Fortunately, the police did not seriously injure any journalists but several were intoxicated by the gas, including my colleagues at El Nuevo Día Dennis Rivera and Tonito Zayas. Another photojournalist suffered minor injuries and a broken lens after being pushed.
Although I had covered some smaller altercations where Riot Control was called in to keep order this felt like a conflict. The demonstrators were angry and had no qualms about trying to injure police officers and the officers yelled taunts and insults at the demonstrators. As a student photojournalist the experience definitely taught me a great deal about how I react in tense situations. When I realized the situation was becoming more and more violent I reasoned that the most appropriate place was to position myself with the students on receiving end of the police. Being the only photojournalist who was on that side of the skirmish allowed me to connect with the students and subsequently shoot the aggression from beginning to end.
That said I am very interested in documenting a slew of demonstrations that are scheduled for the coming weeks. I don’t think a similar situation will repeat it self (especially since we are hosting the Central American Games this month) but I do believe is that after this altercation the political left wing and Governor Fortuño’s opposition have newfound political leverage. How they use it will be very interesting.
