This morning, I was in charge of leading the Bible study for the missionary team at another missionary's house. We were about to begin when a loud commotion started outside. Riot police with shields were protecting a man with a generator and arc welder that was cutting the hinges off of the gate. Another man (in pink shirt in photo) was yelling but unable to push past the police. Our understanding was that some residents of the neighborhood locked the gate with a chain about a month ago to reduce the traffic so that only residents would enter. But since residents aren't allowed to indiscriminantly (or discriminantly) close public streets of their own choosing, the municipality chose to remove the gate this morning. In a matter of 10 minutes the gates were cut off of their hinges and loaded into a truck and they were gone, leaving a couple of guys with sledge hammers to remove a wall blocking the sidewalk. I was impressed by their speed and skill at making off with a big steel gate!
