Blame Canada

Ah, nothing like a good holiday. Joe and I just came back from a few days in Lyon (he had a business meeting and we tagged a long weekend on to the end of it). We ate in a traditional 'bouchon' (where the silk factory workers used to eat - lots of good hearty food made from cheap bits of cow and pig, like the brains and the snout...surprisingly delicious), took leisurely walks through cobbled streets, saw lots of old cathedrals (like the one we climbed up to, right) and ate obscene amounts of cheese.

We decided to finish the holiday with a meal in an incredibly posh restaurant. At the beginning of our meal, cheers from the bar next door told us Sarkozy had been elected president. At the end of our meal, the whiff of tear-gas as we walked out onto the street told us some people didn't like the idea. We'd decided to cycle back to our hotel (Lyon has a fab system where you can pay a few euros to rent a bike, then put it back at one of the many points scattered around the city), and we'd just got our bikes when we saw a crowd of people running away from the nearby square.

We went to take a look - and were greeted by a row of riot police, clouds of tear-gas, brainless protestors throwing bins and restauranteurs desperately bringing in tables from their patios. It was easy to get close without being in any actual danger, so we just stared for a good ten minutes. Then a bottle smashed a few feet away from me and we decided to get out of there. I'm glad we had bikes!

Here are the best photos, from a blog called riotporn that's a testament to the utter stupidity of humanity. Heck, why take part in reasoned debate when you can just lob a bin through the window of the nearest McDonald's?



Riot police running past the tourist information office, where we'd asked for directions to our restaurant just a few hours before.







At first I thought this guy was shooting rubber bullets, but it's actually tear-gas. The capsules burst in the air like fireworks, then shower down clouds that smell like burning plastic and make your eyes and throat sting.



We came across a burned-out car a few minutes up the road from our hotel. I guess someone wanted to remember Paris '05.