Local student sees political passions first hand on European trip

Cate Kitcher - Mustangs Ahead

(LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL)- Lakewood Ranch High School (LRHS) sophomore Austin Hovermale got caught in a protest while visiting the United Kingdom and France.

While visiting Europe, Hovermale described being involved and seeing two protests: one in the United Kingdom (UK) and one in France.

Hovermale stated, “The protest took place outside my hotel room when I was in the UK and when I was in France it was happening outside a shop, I was in.”

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The UK protest was about immigration and France it was about government workers wanting more pay. Hovermale described the UK protest as a large majority of people drinking and climbing things as well as vandalizing buildings and statues. This causes encounters with the protesters and the police.

However, in France it was different, there protest was more organized where each group or organization were going one after another down the street with a car for each organization with a balloon attached.

Hovermale said, “Both protests honestly changed how I viewed protesting because one was very peaceful and while the other wasn’t peaceful. It really showed how populations will act about something they are upset about.”