Today will be the moment of truth. With the concert blaring it's sound checks right outside our window, the view from our office will be a mass of school children and police with a huge cloud of tension hanging over it. OK, here's alittle background. Sept. 1 is the offical first day of school for all public schools, and to celebrate, there will be a concert sponsored by the city council and education ministry, which will take place in the square right outside our office window. The concert will start at 18.30 (6:30 PM). A protest against the education reform that I mentioned in the last post starts at 18.00 (6 PM) across the river. Playing in the concert outside our window is a popular Russian group that most of the people attending the protest are going to want to see. Causing a huge wave of protesters to meet a large amount of drunk education reform supporters. The protesters are threatening violence, while the city has allowed the use of dogs and water cannons should things turn ugly. There is nothing left to do but wait and see if Riga erupts into chaos, because some drunk Pro-reform high school kid bumps into a drunk anti-reform kid. Never has violence so big depended on people so young.
