The view that afternoon from the balcony of my 22nd floor apartment was awesome. The sky from horizon to horizon was marked with many intense plumes of thick black smoke. I counted 14 major buildings ablaze. We faced the mind-focussing decision of making a run for escape via the airport, or staying together in some measure of safety, and waiting out the situation. We chose to stay, for many reasons, not the least being messages of looting of vehicles on the outbound tollway, and disorganised chaos at the airport.
Subsequent events are now history.
At the time of writing, the intervening period of apparent return to normality has already been interrupted by renewed student demonstrations. The exhortations are to stay calm, but the continuing crushing financial crisis and widespread dissatisfaction with government means that another major disruption could well occur before the end of the year. Donations can be made using the form below and sent to the address shown at the top of the Newsletter.