I just wanted to go to the bookstore...

I wanted to publish this separeately, and I want to start off by saying I'm fine and never felt like I was in any danger:

Last night before dinner I decided to go the nearest bookstore and get Angels and Demons in French to read on my plane ride to Greece tomorrow, not thinking about the fact that the path I take to get to this bookstore takes me right by La Sourbonne - BAD IDEA. As soon as I turn onto Rue Soufflot I see that cops are barracading all roads that lead towards La Sourbonne. As I reach Boulevard St. Michel I see tons of people running away and gas in the air. A few people ran across the street without looking and got hit by a taxi, though luckily none of them were seriously hurt. I find another road to take and go that way, only to find that the police barracade forces me back onto Boulevard St. Michel. Determined to get to the bookstore, and with no other way to do so, I decide to walk through the huge protest. Luckily it wasn't too violent yet, but people were definitely throwing things at the police, who were setting off tear gas, and let me tell you, if you've ever wanted to know what tear gas is like, I can now tell you: IT STINGS LIKE HELL. Even my mouth and nose were burning from it, and that was with breathing through my scarf. I tried not to breath in much and ran as best as I could until the cloud of smoke was gone. I get to the bookstore to discover that they're all out of Angels and Demons and won't have any more copies till next week. I of course was not too happy about that, having just walked through a riot to get there, but with no other way to go I set off to walk back through the riot to get home.

By the time I reach La Sourbonne again I see it's getting a lot worse. Protestors have started a fire in the middle of the street and more tear gas has been set off. I was directed to go around a certain area, noticing that it was several police surrounding a girl lying on the street with the silvery blanket thing on her (no idea what happened there). I pull up my scarf and run through again without any problem. I never felt like I was in any danger, it was just crazy to see it. It was how I imagine a soccer riot (or football riot) would be in the U.S. It's good that I wasn't there later, because apparently it got worse. Cars were burnt and several businesses were broken into and had their windows smashed and their merchandise either stolen or thrown at the cops. The majority of this damage is not being done by students but more so people that are looking for an excuse to cause havoc and they're usually very drunk. There's another big protest scheduled for Saturday and right now there's no real end in sight unless the CPE is declared unconstitutional, and I doubt that'll happen. I'll be in Greece all next week, so we'll see what the situation is like when I get back.