Occupy Brussels - Photos and Videos

Today was such a gorgeous day for a street party with a few thousand of my closest friends. 

Please share and circulate (and say nice things about the protests) - I'm putting them in the public domain. Let me know if you want more context on any of the pics. I still haven't had time to add much commentary.

Before anyone asks me why was I protesting, you can see my response to that question here

First, check out this video to give a sense of the awesome vibe throughout the day, then read on to see some more pics

As you can see in the vid, it was a frenetic, carnival atmosphere, and the participants were as diverse and multicultural as Brussels herself.

The march (or more correctly, the leisurely sunny Saturday afternoon stroll) started at Gare du Nord and finished at the Bourse (Stock Exchange), meandering through some very nice parts of Brussels.

I don't get out in Brussels much these days, so I can't tell you exactly where we went, but it was very well organised. Throughout the route, we were supported by unobtrusive, and friendly police - I had the opportunity to give a hearty merci to a couple and in each case received a genuine and supportive response.

Protesting can be very tiring for the little-uns 

I don't speak Spanish, but I think I understand most of what this one is saying,  I don't get it though. Can someone help me understand?

Yeah - ditto here

It's as simple as that really.

A lot of effort went into this particularly nice piece of work

Superficially it's a nice image, but I reckon that the pawns are still gonna get their arses kicked... I suspect that on average, the 1% probably play a better game of chess than the 99% and would quite relish this board...

This was a very common but cute mistranslation

I don't know what this was all about but I'm not going to bag them since I made zero effort to bring anything at all besides a camera, of course.

This guy won the best-dressed award for the banker suit and bowler hat.

I really like this idea.

Heading up towards the Bourse, I had made my way towards the front of the crowd.

A very disappointing sight at the end of a wonderful day...

...a large group of police in full riot gear, hiding out behind the Bourse and looking like they were itching for a fight... Thankfully all stayed peaceful...