Clash of civilizations, the illustrated version
Welcome to Eurabia: Fortress McDonalds opens in Berlin, an event well attended by riot police. No doubt the cops were there to repel trendy Euroveggie neo-fascists, but you also never know in Europe these days when the mujahedin may decide to take revenge against that ubiquitous symbol of American pop cultural hegemony.
“McDonald’s Opens in Kreuzberg,” by Josh Ward in Spiegel Online (thanks to Ruth King):
It looks like any of Germany’s nearly 1,300 other McDonald’s franchises. Colorful glossy plastic and shiny stainless steel, bright lights, smiling counter people, a playground, a grasshopper-green manicured lawn, a McCafé and a McDrive. Everything McNormal.
Take a closer look, though, and you see something strange. Hidden in a parking lot around the corner are three police paddy wagons with wire-mesh-protected windows, full of bored police officers in riot gear waiting for a smoke break. Security cameras hang in bunches on light poles like coconuts. Almost everyone outside has a long-lensed camera, video recorder or reporter’s spiral notepad.