Riots in Rome

My daughter (the one I took to the VFW breakfasts) is spending her gap year in Europe, before she heads off to college. Currently, she's working in Rome, where they had student riots over the weekend. These are photos that she took and posted on her Facebook page:







The riots were against the Italian prime minister, who is Italy's third richest man, estimated to be worth $9.0 billion (US$) in 2010, owning assets in the fields of television, newspapers, publishing, cinema, finance, banking, insurance, and even sport. He owns the three top Italian TV channels.

Here's the background story on the riots:

http://poweroftheindividual.blogspot.co ... itics.html

Berlusconi is a scumball but at least he can stay in power, it seems like all the other goverments collapse in months. When I was in Rome a few years ago, we had to plan our tourist walks around demonstrations too. Demonstrations and riots just seem to be a Euro thing.

I think this is her third or fourth riot in the two months she's been there. France was just as bad. They riot about everything.

I wouldn't allow my kid to be around riots, they are never safe and anything could happen. JMTCW

Yeah, most people teach their kids to avoid hazards overseas. Only a socialist would permit their child to play with riots. I am expecting riots in the US in 2011. Thanks to the Obama stalled economy.

:thumbsup: and her 3rd or 4th riot??? What's up with that?

outdoor338 wrote: I wouldn't allow my kid to be around riots, they are never safe and anything could happen. JMTCW

Are you a woos. I think she is a match for anything Rome has to offer.

nope, not a woos, but your OK with a kid in a riot and stuff being thrown or shot at, how does she control that? Don't think many would agree with you nep..she should stay off the streets..IMHO

This ring a bell for you Nep, just a kid at a riot, look at what happened to her http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3P_Alsf2r8&NR=1

Wayne, your daughter can be our resident 'how to survive the riots' expert when they start here. Probably not too far away.

This is starting to sound like "It takes a village to raise a child."

Thank you, NeptuneChimney, for your comment.

My daughter is 19 and can do pretty much what she wants (although we did advise her not to move to Turkey when she asked about her next stop -- We settled on Switzerland). She is also trained in self-defense.

She is the most level-headed person of her age I've ever met (she must get that from her mother). In fact, a number of times when we've been caving she has talked me out of doing something that I thought was OK but she thought was too dangerous. She has been on long caving trips (18 hours) without me and helped other, older cavers who got into trouble during those trips, where they are 8 hours from the entrance. I'm talking wild caves, not tourist caves with electric lights and handrails. She is a trained rescue caver.

If you look at the photos, you'll notice the police are not even paying attention to her. That's because she doesn't dress like a rioter. She doesn't taunt the police or run away from them. There are other tamer photos I didn't include where people are just standing on the sidewalk watching the riot go by. One photo she took shows shoppers standing in a store display window, watching the riot in the street.



The rioters are college students. Their only concern is the police -- not people on the street or other people their age.

If there was such a thing as a well-mannered riot, the riots in Rome would be it -- although I'm just reading today's riot (the pictures are of Tuesday's riot) is the worst riot in 30 years in Rome. She wasn't there by herself. She was with friends.

She is also well-versed in traveling Europe. Which means, she is aware that she has a greater chance of getting her purse stolen while taking pictures of the riot than she does being attacked in the riot.