Real Things Happen January 27th, 2010 Mérida -- Real things happened yesterday and Monday in Mérida, as students took to the streets to protest the shutdown of RCTV, one the last remaining broadcast networks in Venezuela which had been openly critical of the Chávez government. On Monday students were seen throwing rocks and moving in groups, armed with molotov cocktails fashioned out of regional beer bottles. Many had t-shirts tied around their faces. They blocked traffic in a series of streets in the downtown area, using chairs and tires that were then set on fire. Police in riot gear massed throughout the downtown area over the course of the afternoon. Later in the evening the downtown area had become impassable, as much due to a domino traffic effect as to specific blockades. Busses were not running into the the downtown area from the outlying neighborhoods, and taxis were largely unable to pass the lower streets. Most people walked home, and the streets were relatively safe in all but the southern quadrant of the city’s center. In the evening, reports circulated in the city about a young man who had died of a gunshot wound during clashes between pro- and anti-Chavez groups, after this event, and due to escalating conflict later in the night, the city center was seen as impassable. In the morning it was reported that another young man had been shot and killed during the night. Protests continued throughout Thursday, and all classes at the school attended by this reporter were canceled. Shouts and chanting could be heard in the streets from the downtown bureau, which is this reporter’s homestay for the next two weeks. Today life had largely returned to normal, and irrelevant topics were once again under consideration for further coverage.