unintentional tears: part two

about one hour into our time at the protest, the prayer call went off at the mosque on the corner. those truly devoted to their religion stopped, in the midst of the protest, and prayed. they went through their prayer motions, various people taking on leadership roles to lead the prayers. a peace fell over the protest. i thought to myself, "maybe this will help calm this angry protest". i hoped.
not ten or fifteen minutes after the prayer, things became ignited again. the young man whose role was to continue to burn flags (or so it seemed) climbed to a new height above the street to re-ignite the protest, along with another flag. the crowd surged. the riot police pushed back. and another surge. at this, the police began the process of clearing out the protesters. this meant pushing, chasing, and some beating with billy clubs. we quickly moved to the corner, as young men began hurling rocks and pieces of broken cinder blocks at the police. emily was still taking pictures, and we didn't want to separate, along with the fact that we really did want to see what would transpire.

as the scene became more violent, we saw a smoking something fly through the sky. more and more smoke filled the neighborhood. people were running away with their faces covered by their scarves. we were clueless, until a painful stinging sensation surged through our tear ducts and our nasal cavities. tear gas.we started running with the crowds, and we inhaled way too much tear gas. barely able to breathe, we continued moving...i should say i continued moving. jessey was leaning on the hood of a car, trying to catch her breath. an angel, in the form of a palestinian protester, grabbed her, shoved onions up her nose, and helped her continue moving until she caught up with me. we had to go at least six blocks in order to get out of the tear gas infested area.

this impacted us in ways beyond words. we understood what it was like, on a small scale, to be "attacked" as innocent bystanders. we felt a deep sense of solidarity with the people of gaza, because just like them, we were forced to flee in the face of impending danger, having done nothing wrong. those who had incited the violence may have been deserving of some sort of forced submission, but most of us were not guilty of violence. we were guilty only of being present. as the death toll rises, we pray that a peaceable solution can be found soon so the violence will stop.