Shadow Stormtroopers in Action!

May 9th, 2009: The only day I went somewhere without my camera, is the day the Colombian youth decided to create a public disturbance without me there to record it…all of it. My friend Ross and I just left the hostel and 2 blocks away I saw that the police were stopping the cars from going down the main street. Since only the cars were being stopped and no t the law abiding pedestrians, we continued forward. Here I was honored have a front seat view to see the battle of 70+ youth verse the rolling shoebox - not just a shoebox…a shoebox with water guns and some type of convenient teargas dispensers.

Rocks were being tossed at the mobile shoebox with great force…breaking a mirror. The water guns seemed a bit harmless…if anything it was just a nice shower for the chosen few. When this attempt to restore world peace failed…the Shadow Strormtroopers aka SWAT were sent in.

During intermission, I ran back to the hostel to grab my camera. Fortunately for me, I made it back in time for the beginning of the second half. When the Shadow Stormtroopers moved forward to pay them a little visit…sticks and stones...were genisoned into the air along with a nice warm motif cocktail – and here I thought when growing up sticks and stones would break some bones…I was obviously lied to. The troopers continued to move forward as the group ran like a bunch of cockroaches back into the compound leaving the poorly constructed roadblock to be disassembled. The roadblock was a chain tied across the road to a fence and a tree, which was perhaps at most...capable of clotheslining a pedestrian who was not paying attention.

From that point shots tear gas was fired into the crowd…in my opinion, it should have been rubber bullets. This would have created much better footage by adding a few screams to the extremely quiet scene. The Shadow Stormtroopers didn’t even do their signature, “hut – hut – hut –hut –hut –hut” when they moved forward – didn’t they ever watch the movie, Swat or even Reno 911 for that matter? Startled, the Colombian youth ran back inside the compound locking the fence behind them. The troopers could not easily breach the fence so they just stood there awaiting orders from the command center.

My friend Ross was leaving up north and wanted to get a coffee and check out this other district, so I was painfully persuaded to leave the scene. Unfortunately, when coming back there was nothing going on. The street was once again clear with no sign of any prior disturbances. Thanks to the Shadow Strormtroopers, it was once again safe to roam the streets.