THE HUG

The riot police were not ready to fight against the people. Politicians should defend themselves, take up their own responsibilities. People began to clap at the policemen when they slowly began to put their shields and truncheons down. All of a sudden, a young woman jumped out of the crowd and hugged one of the agents, called José. The clapping became then deafening and the flashes of the journalists immortalised the scene, while everybody claimed for democracy.

Two years later, when José, the same police officer by then unemployed, was about to be evicted from his flat because of an unpaid mortgage, he resisted. He was taken in front of a judge, who condemned him to pay a fine. José, then homeless and moneyless, approached the judge and hugged her tightly, while saying:

"Remember me? I'm the policeman you hugged two years ago during the demonstrations..."

"Yes, I do...", she whispered trembling.

"I just want to give you back your hug", he said to her, before being taken by two safety guards and thrown away violently.

Frantz Ferentz, 2012