Anyone know about riots in Costa Rica?

Question

I was walking up towards the ULatina the other day, right outside of San Jose, and I noticed that there were a bunch of kids mobbing the streets, carrying large pieces of pipe and smoking weed (something which I haven't really seen here outside of puerto viejo). I usually catch a bus up by the university, but I noticed a plume of smoke up ahead and I guess the cops were coming because all of a sudden everyone started yelling and running, so I jumped in a cab instead. In the morning all of the windows of the ULatina building were broken. I was passing by it on the bus and no one even batted an eye. My host family was also pretty nonchalant about it, and said, "yeah, well there was a concert there the other day." Is this common?

Answer 1

It's not common at all.It will probabaly be all over the news.

Kids probably just got way too excited.

Answer 2

Its not common but for some reason in the past few days teenagers have been doing crazy stuff. Maybe theres something wierd in the air these days. Maybe its lets get rowdy month, LOL.

Answer 3

It's the first time something like thah have happened in my country. we are so scary bout it!...

Answer 4

Its pretty rare.  I know of only one other street demonstration that resulted in any damage and a few arrests and that was in the 1980's.  Last night's riot was more like a party that got out of hand and although there will be no investigation the police probably mishandled things.

Its true that an advertised concert was held in a venue much too small for the predicted crowd.  Pretty stupid all around.  Notice there was almost no personal violence.  Most ticos still avoid physical fighting, except of course for the eager beaver police.

Answer 5

Lonelytico is right.  This is part of what we wrote in our blog today:

There was a pseudo war with thrown stones and pieces of glass which occurred yesterday afternoon at the Universidad Latina during the Urbania Snickers Festival 2008, which left this institution, homes and surrounding shops destroyed, in addition to 14 people injured and/or affected, including six policemen.

The activity organized by the university and Snickers began early. There would be several national bands playing there. However the Argentine group "Los Pericos" would be the main attraction. The roofed parking lot was filled to the brim, and there were approximately 2,500 people outside the parking lot fighting security and trying to get in. Event goers were furious because they had to eat three chocolate bars and wait for hours only to be told that they couldn’t get into the event.

You can visit our web directory and get much more information about Costa Rica.

Answer 6

It's not common.  If people on the bus or even your host family didn't even mention it, it's because that was something expected.  ULatina is a pretty "commercial university" and uses odd tactics to earn money.  It was just an almost free-of-charge concert in an indoor parking lot and possibly a couple thousand of excited youngsters were left outside due to the lack of room for every single person.  I bet they are going to think it twice when they plan to rent the facility again.

Isolated event.  Enjoy your stay!

Answer 7

You can read all about what happened in the TicosLand blog today.

Answer 8

Ooooh really?  My cousins go to ULatina.  I'll ask them about it.