Democracy in action?

Day 54 - Bordeaux

M went for a walk in the morning to go and buy some of what he'd read were Bordeaux's best croissants. He bought two at at only €1.40 (about $2.25) each, they were very good, better than the hyped ones you can get back home, plus he didn't have to line up for them!

During the walk he had noticed there were a lot of police around, and presumed it must have something to do with the school protests that had been going on in France. Then while enjoying our croissants in our apartment we heard a chanting crowd, we went outside to check and saw hundreds of students and teachers protesting, it all seemed peaceful enough. M went for another walk across the river later and ran into the protest again, it seemed to have increased significantly in size.

We then both went to see the sights of Bordeaux, while walking the streets it seemed very quiet, and there were police everywhere. There were a group of them in riot gear that just seemed to be hanging around, M took a photo but we didn't think too much of it.

Then a couple of minutes later they all ran past us towards the protest coming down the street, firing shots as they went. We could see gas canisters of some sort being launched, M moved up to get some photos and video of what was going on, K followed not too far behind. We could then both feel some irritation, dry throat and a chemical sort of smell, not sure if the gas was tear gas, it did have a minor effect on us for just a short time, but we moved out of the area so it didn't last long. 

From there we headed away from the action towards the more touristy part of town to see major monuments and buildings like Place de la Bourse and Fontaine des Trois Grâces. Miroir d'eau is very shallow area of water where those places are reflected, but there were too many people (and dogs) walking through to get any great photos.

We wandered back through town, encountering plenty more police along the way, there were small groups of protesters wandering around but no more encounters like what we'd seen earlier. 

Later on as we sat at a cafe in the plaza near the cathedral, it started pouring rain. We had read that the great run of weather we'd been having was going to end, but it arrived a bit earlier than we'd expected.