after a quiet but full day of being a tourist in tallinn, i was walking home from the far end of the city......suddenly, a rumble was heard from the sky.......everyone in teh streets started to look to the fading light of the heavens.......there was a helicopter....now, this wouldn't have worried me except that the people seemed confused byit...obviously, helicopters are not a regular occurrence here.......i continued on my way.....whatever was going on, hopefully it wouldn't affect me.....and it was about time i got back......
then, the sirens.......5 or 6 big bop bars went racing by........more confused faces.....cells popped out of pockets and conversation was everywhere (not that i could understand any of it)......i made my way throug old town and as i was geting near the castle, police seemed clustered.....my curiosity finally got me.....i asked what was going on......apparently the estonian government had decided to remove a monument to fallen russian soldiers and the russian minority was protesting......the stautue had been covered with a tarp today as a precursor to its removal........crowds were gathering.......crowd control was under way.......
as the girl who explained all this to me led me towar the site of the demonstration, we were redirected by walls of police.......i stopped for a while at an interesting vantage point.....watched cars and people back up behind cops in neon yellow......watched as they marched into position ...as they erected fences....listened to choppers and cheering and horns blasting in unison.....felt the tension and the unknown of what this could mean.....at the moment it was peaceful but felt like that could change quite quickly......when i moved on, the sun was almost set and a lone dove sat perched on the high cross of the church near the site........people were continuing to gather....most had their mobiles out, sharing the current event in action.......
check out these photos....they are from the news page so i don't know how long the photos will stay up.....
Thursday, April 26, 2007
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