out-of-control ugly

Really, this is out of control.

What woke me up at 5:15 were weird smashing sounds. I ran out onto the balcony and saw that, somehow, an angry mob had sneaked up behind the police cordon and was stoning the Algerian Embassy and trying to kick in the gate.

The soldiers seemed to be out of position, a block down the street, but immediately they came running back up toward the Embassy again and chased away the crowd, which unsurprisingly seemed to be made up entirely of hotheaded young males.

But the crowd is still nearby: I can hear them. They must have been doing this all night long. Unfortunately we have hit the weekend now, which means that these people have a good block of free time ahead of them to keep at it.

There are still hundreds of soldiers nearby. It still looks every bit like martial law on my street, and I may have difficulty leaving home at all today.