Not only did they follow the union leader once he left the head office of his organisation, but they intercepted him with a police vehicle at the crossroads with Erasmo Escala and Cummings, making him get out of the car that he was driving on his way home, and interrogated him, and searching his car.

In answer to his repeated questions regarding the reason for this unusual action, the police officers said that it was a *“routine inspection, intended to control the traffic”*. However, the police officers were not wearing their usual uniforms, nor were they stopping other cars as they usually do. They only stopped Mr Aguilar and did so after watching him leave the union head office. At the time, Mario Aguilar thought of going to court to obtain a Protection Order, fearing that these actions were intended to intimidate him.

With all of the arrogance that I have seen in the streets today, the following union leaders, the detention of demonstrators and the obstinacy of a government which is more and more rejected, have we returned to the way of life of the eighties?

As I finish writing these words, I can hear saucepans clanging like bells in my neighbourhood…