Protest in Florence

13.2.2011

                Today in Florence Camille and I decided to go do homework at a café on the other side of the river (this is supposed to be the more “Italian” side of Florence).  Little did we know a huge protest was taking place.  From what I can tell it is to protest against the leader of Italy who recently was caught being promiscuous with underage girls.   There were huge banners and signs saying things like “Italy isn’t a brothel”.  At one point we stopped to watch (partly due to the fact that we could get anywhere because it was so crowded).

                All of a sudden the entire group of protestors seemed to stop and infront of us was a group of drummers.  They were playing beats while everyone around them was clapping, dancing and swaying along with the music.  People were even adding in to the music with their own version of symbols (pot and pan lids that they would hit with a wooden spoon in order to add a little something to the drum beat). 

                The protest was probably one of the coolest things I’ve witnessed to date.  Although it was a protest it almost seemed joyous.  Everyone seemed to be involved and everyone was unified.   There were children walking and dancing along next to their mothers or even grandmothers.  Men and women, young and old, it didn’t matter who you were everyone was welcome.  The protest stretched for a good couple of miles hundreds of people were cheering, dancing and chanting.  I’ve never seen anything like it.