The streets surrounding it are virtually deserted, apart from knots of disoriented demonstrators recovering from the tear gas I have just escaped from. I see no police cordon protecting the building. There is a tinkle of breaking glass in a ground floor window on the far right of the building. I see three or four people, apparently kids, stoning the windows from the broad steps on which, the night before, hundreds of demonstrators had gathered without violence. Another window breaks on an upper floor.
Flames appear in the first window struck.
Then another fire on the upper floor. I can clearly see three police or security guards moving about on the roof of the building. A white cloud of tear gas forms below as one of them apparently lobs a tear gas grenade in the direction of the vandals. I watch as the flames crackle merrily. There is no cover for the vandals, who nevertheless seem to be very relaxed.