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Been tough to file from the massive protest against Gov. @ricardorossello of Puerto Rico today. But Old San Juan is still teeming, at this hour, with people and their flags and chants, everywhere you look
You really need a view from high up like this one to start to get a sense of the many thousands of people protesting
“This is the upside of Maria,” said Coralie Córdoba, 55, referring to the 2017 hurricane. “This would not have happened, I don’t think, if we wouldn’t have had Maria. It’s been too many years of putting up and holding back.”
“People are just so tired,” said Richard Timm, 54, who said he was encouraged by the throngs of young people, who don’t always participate in political protests, in the crowd.
Vanessa Ruiz, 34, said this was her first protest. Puerto Rico has had troubled governments “for as long as I remember,” she said. “Now Puerto Ricans have said, enough is enough.”
The protests against Rosselló have brought together groups that don’t usually join forces in protest, the demonstrators say. That’s important because it’s harder to dismiss them. Many locals are used to the political left taking to the streets. This crowd also includes others.
Things have been heating up outside the governor's mansion, La Fortaleza, where protesters have pushed plastic barricades filled earlier with cement toward the line of police in riot gear.
They're now attempting to push back the line of cement barriers. Police have issued warnings to the crowd at various points, and some in the crowd have tried to get others to stop throwing items like bottles.
More police warnings, calling on protesters to start clearing out of the intersection in front of the police line
Fireworks and then tear gas in Old San Juan as protesters disperse and police officers in riot gear push out from La Fotaleza
The tear gas started later tonight than it did on Wednesday. But there are many more people on the streets of San Juan right now than there were then
A big crew of bikers riding on their motorcycles to join the protest has made it into Old San Juan
Some protesters (on foot) attempted to return to La Fortaleza and were met with a new round of tear gas.
Just spotted the chyron on the local Telemundo affiliate in Puerto Rico: “San Juan se convierte en zona de guerra.” San Juan becomes a war zone
