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<div class="header reader-header" style="display: block;"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="http://remezcla.com/culture/violent-end-yesterdays-national-strike-puerto-rico-activists-will-march-today/">http://remezcla.com/culture/violent-end-yesterdays-national-strike-puerto-rico-activists-will-march-today/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">After Violent End to Yesterday’s
National Strike in Puerto Rico, Activists Will March Again
Today</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">by Jhoni Jackson - May 2,
2018<br>
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<p>Hundreds of protesters were tear gassed by police at <a
href="http://remezcla.com/culture/san-juan-puerto-rican-flag-painted-black/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener">Puerto Rico</a>‘s
National Strike Tuesday, and many others pepper sprayed,
shot with rubber bullets, and struck with batons. The
mayhem began shortly after 2 p.m., and attendees –
including elderly people and children – felt the effects
of the chemical agent even as they fled. Many suffered
injuries in the panicked rush to escape the Milla de
Oro, the financial district of San Juan where the event
took place.</p>
<p>Hours later, a<a
href="https://www.facebook.com/rrossello/videos/1736950129674038/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener"> press conference</a>
was held by Governor Ricardo Rosselló that also included
Héctor Pesquera, the Commissioner of Safety and Public
Protection, and Police Commissioner Henry Escalera. The
group responsible, they agreed, was<a
href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/seacabaronlaspromesas/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Se Acabaron Las
Promesas</a>, a collective of activists organized two
years ago in response to <a
href="http://remezcla.com/features/culture/campamento-contra-la-junta-puerto-rico/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener">PROMESA</a>, the U.S.
law passed to address the island’s $72 billion debt, and
the subsequent implementation of a federal Fiscal
Control Board of un-elected officials. Officials accused
the group of antagonizing police, and throwing rocks and
other projectiles – including acid. Fifteen officers
were injured, they noted, and held up rocks allegedly
used against police to demonstrate.</p>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="es">Lanzan gases lacrimógenos en la
Milla de Oro. <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ParoNacional?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ParoNacional</a>
<a href="https://t.co/qxyXfzjRIj">pic.twitter.com/qxyXfzjRIj</a></p>
<p>— El Nuevo Día (@ElNuevoDia) <a
href="https://twitter.com/ElNuevoDia/status/991381202333523970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
1, 2018</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>So far, no proof has emerged that the protesters used
acid. The use of rocks and other projectiles is true.
Those on the receiving end, however, didn’t come
unprepared: Police dressed in full riot gear with
protective helmets with shields. They had gas masks,
batons, and some had guns for shooting rubber bullets,
too – and when the chemical clouds became inescapable,
the vast majority of protesters only had bandanas and
T-shirts to cover their faces. And some didn’t even have
those.</p>
<p>Later in the day, a sizable group of police appeared in
a residential street in Río Piedras, near the University
of Puerto Rico’s flagship campus, in persecution of
protestors.</p>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="es">Según vídeo de un residente, la
Policía llegó hasta un apartamento para arrestar a dos
manifestantes.</p>
<p>Vídeo: Edwin Caraballo <a
href="https://t.co/4ip9Z9jcrl">pic.twitter.com/4ip9Z9jcrl</a></p>
<p>— Pulso Estudiantil (@PulsoEST) <a
href="https://twitter.com/PulsoEST/status/991407836906303488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
1, 2018</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Throughout the day, there were at least <a
href="http://www.noticel.com/la-calle/7-fouls-de-la-polica-en-el-paro-nacional/737157435"
target="_blank" rel="noopener">12 confirmed arrests</a>.</p>
<p>Some of the primary issues denounced at the protest
were pension cuts, the closure of <a
href="https://www.bustle.com/p/283-schools-in-puerto-rico-are-closing-teachers-say-the-reasons-are-super-suspect-8714451"
target="_blank" rel="noopener">283 </a>public schools
(in addition to the <a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/10/us/puerto-rico-debt-schools-close.html"
target="_blank" rel="noopener">179</a> closed last
year), the rolling back of labor protections, the
privatization of government entities (the power
authority, for one), university tuition hikes,
corruption in Puerto Rico’s own government, and the US
Fiscal Control Board and the colonial nature of the
austerity measures that it has implemented.</p>
<p>Se Acabaron Las Promesas was not the only group present
at the strike, of course. A slew more showed up: Labor
unions, the Teachers’ Federation of Puerto Rico, La
Colectiva Feminista en Construcción, LGBTQIA
organizations, among others. So while the protest
convened around La Milla de Oro, several different
routes of arrival existed and not everyone convened at
the stage set up for speakers and performers.</p>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">The police in Puerto Rico just
pepper spayed a peaceful gathering. <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ParoNacionalPR?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ParoNacionalPR</a>
<a href="https://t.co/2fNFQI5pEh">pic.twitter.com/2fNFQI5pEh</a></p>
<p>— AnaMariaArchila (@AnaMariaArchil2) <a
href="https://twitter.com/AnaMariaArchil2/status/991380498919247872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
1, 2018</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Se Acabaron Las Promesas, which began its march at the
Department of Labor, planned to continue through the
Milla de Oro, but a stronghold of police in riot gear
blocked the group. Immediately after the chaos started,
it<a
href="https://www.facebook.com/seacabaronlaspromesas/posts/584960368527832"> posted
on Facebook</a> that it’d been negotiating passage
with police when the tear gas attack occured.</p>
<p>This morning, Se Acabaron Las Promesas held its own
press conference. When asked if members of its group
launched the projectiles, Joselyn Velázquez, one of its
two representatives replied, “The only person
responsible for what happened yesterday is the
incompetent governor of Puerto Rico.”</p>
<p>The group held strong to its claim that the police
themselves incited the violence, stating that the
governor had given instructions to allow the protesters
to continue marching, but the police contradicted those
instructions. The group elaborated on those prior
negotiations, saying the discussions lasted 45 minutes
to an hour, some of which took place directly with
Police Commissioner Rivera.</p>
<p>“The people of Puerto Rico have the right to
demonstrate and protest in their streets,” continued
Scott Barbés, another representative of Se Acabaron Las
Promesas.</p>
<p>He added that the people have a right to defend
themselves against institutional violence.</p>
<p>“We are defending ourselves,” Barbés added. “The
government is violent, the federal government is
violent, the dictatorial control board of the United
States congress against the people of Puerto Rico – that
is the violence that exists.”</p>
<div
data-href="https://www.facebook.com/seacabaronlaspromesas/photos/rpp.284251645265374/585048271852375/?type=3&theater"
data-width="700">
<blockquote
cite="https://www.facebook.com/seacabaronlaspromesas/photos/a.286644931692712.1073741829.284251645265374/585048271852375/?type=3">
<p>Contra la Ley Promesa, por la disolución de la
Junta de Control Fiscal, Contra el Cierre de
Escuelas y la Privatización…</p>
<p>Posted by <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/seacabaronlaspromesas/">Jornada:
Se acabaron las Promesas</a> on <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/seacabaronlaspromesas/photos/a.286644931692712.1073741829.284251645265374/585048271852375/?type=3">Tuesday,
May 1, 2018</a></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p>The group called for another protest in San Juan today
– this one launching from the beachside tourism hub of
Condado. The same message from Tuesday – denouncing the
“dictatorship of the Fiscal Control Board” and all its
oppressive austerity measures, and calling for
decolonization – continues, but it’s also demanding the
dissolution of<a
href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2015/01/27/puerto-rico-expands-tax-haven-deal-for-americans-to-its-own-emigrants/#7478d7d22735">
Acts 20 and 22</a>, two tax incentive laws designed to
attract wealthy investors and corporations from outside
the island, essentially making the island a tax haven
for the rich. Barbés stressed this march is not an
attack on Condado or the people that live there, but
rather an opportunity for tourists to understand
firsthand what’s happening in Puerto Rico, and to
express solidarity.</p>
<p>“We want the whole world, just like yesterday, to
understand that here is a mobilized pueblo. And in
Condado, there are tourists, and we have a right to tell
the world, and we have a right to tell the people who
visit us, that this is not a paradise,” Barbés said.
“They have destroyed it. They’re looting it. They’re
poisoning the ground and the air, and they lied to you
just like they lied to us, Puerto Ricans, for 120
years.”</p>
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