Appetite Over All

I have a few other blog posts in the making, but something just happened that I want to write about now.

It was about 10:30 pm and I went to eat at a restaurant I've eaten at most often since coming to Brazil. The restaurant was relatively empty today, and I had ordered some chicken and rice; there was nothing out of the ordinary. I started to see a few people running in one direction, not enough to cause an alarm, but enough to start to draw other people's attention. More people started to come, and then a couple of cops that were on motorcycles stopped to see what was going on. This is when things started to get interesting.

I saw a guy running with a flag. I have no idea what it said because I was too far away. But whatever it said, the cops didn't like it because they took the flag and broke it into pieces. At that point I thought the incident was over because it had seemed like the cops had driven off. However, even more people started to gather, and then they started chanting at the cops. Even more cops came. I kept eating.

People started looking to see what was going on all around the area. Many people started to run into the crowd with their cameras held high and recording. Some of the cameras were expensive, professional cameras which made me think that this little riot was planned. I heard a few popping sounds. I continued eating. After a few more popping sounds the army or SWAT team arrived. All of sudden people started running away! Then...

BOOM. A flash bang goes off. This got me out of my seat haha. BOOM. Another one goes off. A bunch of people ran into the restaurant and I also got up and ran inside. After a few moments passed and the worst seemed to be over, I went outside, grabbed my food, and brought it into the restaurant to keep eating. People lingered in and around the restaurant for some time to make sure everything had calmed down. Some had their noses covered; I guess there was a bad smell. That didn't bother me, I just kept on eating.

Nothing. And I mean nothing was going to get between my food and me!

There was a guy who had been close to the flash bang that came in the restaurant and he was pretty shaken up. I also saw some people running by who had their faces covered with masks and clothing; I assume they were part of the incident. All in all I was not overly alarmed (Minus the BOOM). I also could not ask and didn't fully understand what had happened. (Working on that Portuguese I promise) I just stuck to my general rules when dealing with sudden large gatherings of people.

1. NEVER run towards the big crowd. That puts you in the line of fire.
2. Know what is going on. Though you don't want to run towards the crowd knowing how dangerous the situation could become is important. (Helps when you are tall, you can see everything from a safe distance)
3. When other people start running, you start running. They're obviously running for a reason, you should follow suit.
4. Leave when it is clear that everything has calmed down.

If my Mondays are like this I can't wait to see what happens on a weekend!