More Civil Disobedience

After visiting Beethoven Haus Saturday, Lenka and I stopped for some pasta and wine. Amidst our conversation about the breakup of Czechoslovakia, we heard all this commotion coming from the University of Bonn’s main square. When we walked over we saw hordes of Polizei (police) complete with plush, Mercedes-Benz SUVs, well-groomed horses and barking German Shepherds:

What was this all about? From what I could see, the police were called in to monitor a group of 20-30 "punks" who had congregated on the lawn. They were drinking, smoking and engaging in other visually disruptive behavior. The police (who outnumbered the punks two-to-one) huddled together, and so did the punks, each group strategizing and waiting for someone to make a move. Every now and then, a punk would break off from and begin hurling verbal insults at the “pigs.” The police would respond by inching closer, and nothing more. They would not violate anyone's free speech rights, and the punks would not break the law.

This dance continued for several hours; I left several times and returned. Each time there was a surrounding audience, guiltily enjoying the free show. The punks must have spent hours selecting their anarchy-themed American t-shirts, slicing their pants and spiking and dying their hair; the police donned their official uniforms and sped around on various noisy transportation methods, pushing aside the general public to rush into “the scene;” all so that onlookers could react appalled and talk to each other over dinner about how the society is going down the drain. The whole seemed result from boredom and overprivilege.

Once the punks grew tired of their own antics, they headed towards the main train station. The police followed closely behind, appearing as if they could have been the young punks' parents.