demo week

it's demo week down at the United Nations, due to the fact that it's human rights week and delegates are coming in from all parts of the world to discuss the situation in the world. this is why, when my bus passed the United Nations square, i saw what i saw. it took me a minute before it sank in that this was part of the demo, cos it was way too realistic.

a woman wearing white clothes was, for lack of a better word, 'strapped' to something that looked like a door frame. meaning, each of her hands was attached to one of the corners with rope. there was make up blood on her face and in a few place on her white overalls. next to her was a policeman standing with a truncheon on his hands, in a striking pose. next to them was another man dressed in white, crouched on the floor with his head on a huge tree stump (like in medieval times, to cut off the head), also with fake blood all over, and another policeman was there with his truncheon, also in a fixed pose that suggested he was about to hit the other one. all these people were of Chinese origin (although it was the Tibetans' day for demo, so i guess they were Tibetans).

now, i knew it was demo week, but it was so realistic that i first thought the policemen were the local Swiss policemen, and that they were hitting the demonstrators. it sounds silly, cos they never would, of course (then again...), and these people are allowed to demonstrate. but that's how scary it was. next to them all was a sign that said 'this happens everyday in China'. well, if everyone felt as i did, i think it must have got enough people's attention. whether it will change anything... i just feel slightly better knowing that, due to road works, the demo place has shrunk to about a tenth of its normal size, and seeing this scene on the bigger scale would probably made me throw up. on the other hand, it would have got loads more people's attention, which would obviously have been better for the demonstrators. the thing is, i don't think that all the delegates coming in will really be able to help. and that just makes me very sad.