Hit on the back of the neck with a chain, the farmer needed stitches. Two attackers were arrested. This amounts to one day of work or three loaves of bread. Biking into town are workers who cannot afford public transport. They pedal in rain and cold on their old, heavy bikes, patched for the hundredth time.
Pedestrians fear sudden attacks.
These are not frequent but do happen. Downtown a gang pounced on a black man, asked who he would vote for. They roughed him up. Similar attacks targeted white teenagers walking home from school in broad daylight in the leafy suburbs of Avenues and Borrowdale. In the February referendum and in previous elections, accreditation was a quick and painless exercise conducted by friendly Ministry of Information staff.