Saturday, August 13, 2005
Arrested delinquents were made to lie down on the ground. You can see their legs in between the cops on the right.
Though Rexona (through Unilever) had the bright idea to hold a free concert at the Araneta Coliseum earlier tonight holding it for free proved far from being the right one resulting in a near riot outside the venue. Hundreds of self-styled rebellious young uns dressed in black shirts hung outside the venue probably in hopes of being allowed inside to watch the concert. A few hours of just standing around resulting in frustration and disappointment probably bored them to death that's why they started resorting to petty crime to stir things up. We were inside the Gloria Jeans Coffee shop in front of the place having our Den meeting when the signs of a mini riot started. Police were called in and when it seemed they weren't enough, fire trucks came in just in case these people need to be hosed down.
There are two things that are very wrong here: first of all, Rexona should have announced a limited sitting capacity thing in the concert. That instead of announcing it having a free entrance they should have specifically stated that only the first, let's say, 2,000 people will be admitted in. Or at least make them "pay" for the concert by raffling the entrance by inserting a promo tag in some 2,000 units of their products and only those who have these promo tags can get in. Instead they go and frustrate a lot of people. Second, the police should have herded the hoi polloi from the venue and dispersed them earlier on. What would the people in black benefitted from hanging around the venue anyway? Watch the gates in hopes of getting a peek of the musicians after the event? We left around 11:30 pm and they're still hanging around, trying to out-pose each other with eyeliners, black nails, lipstick, and cigarettes on hand while the manicured landscape the gardeners of Araneta Center suffered a lot under their indiscriminate trampling. I hope the folks of Rexona and Unilever Philippines are happy with the outcome of their event.
@ 12:24 AM ---> 
